By Lorien Pilling www.IGamingNews.com
Mobile gambling. You've no doubt heard -- ad nauseam -- that the sector has yet to fulfill its promise as interactive gambling's Next Big Delivery Channel. While observers have trumpeted technological trouble as the reason behind M-gambling's perceived struggle, Marcus Wareham, chief executive of Mfuse Ltd., believes the way ahead lies with savvy consumers versed in mobile's manifold uses.
Mfuse, a specialist in mobile technology, benefited in March from a £1.55 million investment by Mark Blandford, founder of Sportingbet. Mr. Wareham said it was obviously a "positive sign" for the sector that an industry veteran such as Mr. Blandford had decided to invest in the company, but admitted the investment also brought with it added pressure because investors naturally expect a return on their money.
One reason -- oft cited -- as to why mobile gambling has not yet fulfilled its potential is that a number of operational difficulties concerning payments and handset standardization still remain.
Mr. Wareham disagrees that these difficulties have proven more stubborn than anticipated. Philosophically, he accepts that technological barriers of one sort or another will always exist; indeed, he suggests that operational issues are in fact becoming more complex as the sector develops. But he does not see technology as being the key issue for the mobile sector.
Rather, it is "consumer education" that will be the basis for its success.
For Mr. Wareham, consumer education encompasses all mobile content and is not, therefore, restricted to mobile gambling: It is about educating consumers as to the availability of mobile services. Only then can consumers understand how safe and convenient these services are and, ultimately, become comfortable using them.
He discussed some specific examples to show how this process of education is at different stages in different markets, and how presenting services in the right way to consumers can aid their acceptance.
Mr. Wareham highlighted the Japanese market, where consumer acceptance of mobile services is high -- where it is commonplace for various goods and services to be bought using mobile handsets. Then, he turned to the Blackberry device, developed by Ontario-based Research In Motion Ltd., and how it is a perfect example of a service -- in this case, the ability to send and receive e-mail -- being positioned correctly to overcome initial consumer resistance and gain widespread acceptance.
In the U.K. market, Mr. Wareham believes that the mobile gambling industry can benefit from the promotion of general mobile content services by providers in other sectors, in particular the likes of BBC, the prominent public service broadcaster. If receiving the latest news, sports, and media content via a mobile phone becomes a more "mainstream" behavior, then it is less of a jump to start using the phone for wider entertainment services and making transactions. But Mr. Wareham does admit to "an element of frustration" that some gambling operators do not do more to promote their mobile gambling products alongside their online channels.
At the Bet-Markets conference in April several operators argued that in-running betting was a form of betting that was ideally suited for mobile delivery and would provide a breakthrough for the sector. Mr. Wareham, however, is cautious about relying on one product to underpin mobile gambling. He acknowledges that in-running betting makes up a "sizeable part of the business," but argues that if an operator focuses solely on in-running betting, it is cutting itself off from a large spectrum of products.
Mr. Wareham said that Mfuse will be furthering its push into casino games for the mobile market and hinted at some imminent product launches in this area.
The educational phase of mobile phone services is clearly a crucial one for mobile content providers. Success is not about the take-up of mobile handsets, because in many markets penetration levels of mobile phones are high. Just as has happened with e-mail communication and the Internet, it is now about consumers fully realizing the capabilities on offer and embracing these mobile services as an accepted part of everyday life.
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