The spread of the coronavirus has led to a surge in popularity within mobile gaming - but it may take some time before the impact is fully realised as the market had been performing extremely well prior to the outbreak too - once figures can be compared before and after, a clear picture will start to form on how many new players have joined, and subsequently been retained during this period.

One of the fastest growing genres within this market can be found within mobile casinos and betting sites as many operators have noticed a huge surge in traffic during this time, in some occasions this growth has been measured upwards of 20%.

This is particularly apparent within the UK as a mandatory credit card ban and the introduction and progression of an initiative called Gamstop has led players to seek well reviewed non gamstop betting sites that have been capitalizing on a growing audience - but the change has also been seen globally in regions that aren’t impacted by Gamstop.

Measures were put in place to prevent continued growth - a ban on advertising through certain platforms, deposit limits, or even complete online gambling bans had been witnessed in certain countries - despite this the growth has shown clear demand.

The question being asked now is whether or not this growth and demand can be continued once many return to a time of normalcy - the suggestion has been that newer players especially are likely to be retained, as they find a new hobby in gaming in general in which they may not have been willing to place prior to this, this is largely because the audience that play these games has been changing over time, they now attract a growing audience that is older and with a disposable income, a change from the typical belief that the audience had been younger teen males.

There’s also the consideration that a home working life may become more common - the remote working experiment has been very successful for many businesses and it may look to be a permanent fixture which cuts down on travel time to work and home, gives freedom for newer players to use their devices whilst at home, but also just provides more freedom.

This could also be a factor leading to the growth in mobile gaming staying.

Either way, it’s likely we will find out the fate of many of  these online platforms soon enough - sporting events are starting to get underway again which will kickstart a slowing sports betting scene, and the alternative to online casinos of the physical brick and mortar locations are also beginning to see recovery, if early signs show that online usage doesn’t drop then it may be easy to determine the long standing success will remain, with forecasts slowly being updated to factor in current growth compared to the expected - given the expected growth had already been expected to surpass $56.6 billion by 2024, this number could certainly be accelerated.