India’s handheld game market ranked top 5 globally
The most serious conflict between India and China in 50 years has led to a rapid cooling of diplomatic relations between the two sides, but trade figures show that economic and trade ties between India and China remain strong, with China replacing the United States as India’s largest trading partner in 2020, with bilateral trade reaching $75.9 billion.
As the largest economy in South Asia, India’s domestic demand continues to grow, from infrastructure, real estate, technology to various public and private enterprises, driving the market to be optimistic about the growth potential of many local sectors, and of course, the gaming and entertainment industry! Due to the decentralization of administration in India, the states have different attitudes towards gaming, but in general, the vision of moving in the direction of legalization remains unchanged.
India is one of the countries with the largest number of gaming users in the world, and at the same time is one of the world’s top 5 handicap markets. If these two advantages are combined, it is clear that there are huge business opportunities in the Indian bc market.
3 out of 4 people in India play hand games
Currently, India has about 525.5 million internet users, of which at least 29% are smartphone users, and this number is continuously increasing. It is estimated that by 2023, India’s Internet population will reach 666.4 million, of which 36.20% will be smartphone users.
India is the fastest growing smartphone and Internet market in the world, and with a growing middle class, more and more Indians are using their cell phones to browse the Web and play games, with smartphones gradually replacing computers.
According to Statista, an online statistics portal, cell phone users spend an average of 215 minutes per day on their devices in 2018 and is expected to increase to 234 minutes in 2021. The global value of handheld gaming surpassed $63 billion last year, while in India, the industry has reached $943 million.
What is certain is that India has seen a significant increase in both online and handheld game users, and this trend will undoubtedly continue to rise. Even more favorable is the fact that with the increasing progress in infrastructure, India’s suburban Internet users have also seen significant growth, with up to 97% of them already using smartphones to access the Internet.
Putting all this together, it can be concluded that India is a large emerging country with at least millions of mobile game players. A large percentage of these players are used to visiting online casinos, pushing India’s gaming market to the top of the world.
More than half of India’s gamblers use cell phones to bet
The gaming industry has changed significantly in the last two years, with more and more gamblers beginning to use their cell phones to visit online casinos to play games. The same change is also happening in India. Nearly all gamblers have used, or continue to use cell phones or tablet computers to open gambling online. The reasons behind this are simple: in addition to being catalyzed by restrictions to prevent the spread of the epidemic, cell phones are more convenient to use, there are no restrictions on where they can be accessed, and more payment providers are supporting services that simplify the online transaction process.
As mentioned earlier, the online gambling trend in India will continue to be hot, and in addition to the fact that users of Internet-enabled mobile devices will become more prevalent, the size of the gambling population in India is simultaneously expanding. Putting the two figures together, it becomes clear that India’s smart device gaming handicap gamblers are growing significantly, harboring a market potential and economic effect multiplied by magnitude!
The difference between iOS and Android users
India’s gaming potential exceeds expectations, but before committing to the local market, there are some facts that must be grasped first, mainly the differences between iOS and Android cell phone users.
First of all, the use of Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads must be a legal application available on the App Store. However, in general, some online casinos and online platforms do not support these applications. This means that iOS users who want to play games must visit the “mobile” version of these gaming sites. Although usability is still high, there are some troubles and drawbacks. For example, some games may not be able to open and operate, or they may take longer to load and be more complicated to operate.
This is not a problem for Android users, who can load the official application in Google Play and start playing immediately in any online casino. However, if the application is not available on Google Play, users still have to rely on third-party applications. Many online casino websites offer these applications as load points, and all users have to do is pick the appropriate load point source to activate and install.
India’s local system market share exceeds that of iOS
It is also worth mentioning that in addition to Apple iOS and Android, KaiOS, which was born in India in 2017, is rapidly emerging locally and successfully killing the low-end mobile market! As of 2018, KaiOS users have exceeded 250 million, and its market share has surpassed iOS to become the second largest mobile operating system in India, second only to Android.
With a huge user base, KaiOS’s huge potential immediately drew Google’s attention, prompting the two sides to cooperate, and Google invested $22 million in KaiOS. in 2018, KaiOS began to support Google Framework Services, Google Play, Google Maps and games, and to download some of the games, you need to have Google Play service. This is a win-win situation for both sides, and for KaiOS, it can bring more application software updates with the help of Google’s huge ecosystem and R&D technology.
The door to regulation in India is gradually opening
With the increase in online betting activities and calls for the government to amend the gambling law, India is likely to amend the law to regulate gambling activities in the near future. The Indian government has long been “dormant” on the subject of gambling, and has raised few objections to it. In fact, the fact that the Indian authorities have not explicitly banned online gambling is a hint of the future of gambling in the country.
With the popularity of handicap gaming and gambling entertainment, it is easy to imagine India becoming a major online gaming market! On the whole, Indian players prefer card games and sports betting, with card games based on local classics such as Indian Rummy and Teen Patti, providing some strategic direction for gaming companies dreaming of entering the Indian market. The company will have a chance to ride the wave of online gambling if it succeeds in capturing the appetite of Indian gamblers.
