Nowadays there is an app for anything and everything. From travel apps, planners, language learning, gaming apps, banking to some quirky ones like reminder apps for drinking water and essentially useless apps that people just try for the sake of it. Some are developed with quality in mind whereas others have a more simple design. And that is alright, although quality and exceeding in user experience should be an aim for developers.

Online gambling industry is not any different. The pressure to excel in mobile has driven the industry to develop mobile apps with various results. A great part of online gamblers have shifted towards playing on mobile. Some play only on their mobile devices whereas others enjoy both mobile and desktop online gambling.

Having an excellent app is an advantage – not a necessity

This may come as a surprise, but mobile apps have not become a standard in the online gambling industry. A few years ago only the biggest players in the market had enough budget to develop good enough apps that could be published. These apps were loved by those who were the early adopters of mobile gambling as browser versions on mobile were lacking and not optimized for mobile usage.

Nowadays things have turned upside down. Browser versions have come a long way from what they were just a couple of years ago and thus they also have become more popular. They allow gamblers to engage in their favorite games without filling their phone memory with another app. This does not mean that mobile casino apps are not being developed anymore. However, apps are now developed mainly by those online casinos that place mobile experience as their number one target and thus want to give something extra to the customers. This may be, besides the overall high quality experience, extra bonuses, offers or game releases that are available first on mobile online casino app version only.

New Zealand – an emerging market where mobile casinos excel

The online casino industry giants are always looking for new emerging markets to acquire. One of those markets is New Zealand which may come as a surprise for some. The mobile experience has become one of the key selling points for this target market. The locals are finding mobile casinos as a less cumbersome way to engage in casino activities as the selection is much wider compared to land based casinos and the games can be played anywhere and anytime. Although the market is new, it is also demanding. Luckily, the best mobile casinos are putting their focus on giving the best mobile experience.

All comes down to the mobile experience

In the end, it is challenging to say whether mobile apps or well-optimized browser versions win the battle. For casual players the browser version is usually more than enough to satisfy their needs whereas active gamblers usually desire to have the best experience, thus going for the mobile app. But even in those cases the quality of the mobile app has to be excellent and create a significantly better mobile experience compared to the browser version.

Does it mean that mobile apps in online gambling are dying? Not at all. The possibilities of mobile apps in online gambling have not fully been found yet and many are still experimenting with the apps. Some online casinos have won awards for being the best mobile casino due to well-developed apps and it seems that newer online casinos are willing to adventure more and learn from the mistakes of the past that the industry leaders did a few years ago.