Mobile gambling games provide gamers with a casino application that enables them to gamble from home or while out and about. Gamers can access online slots, blackjack, poker or roulette using a touchscreen device like an iPhone or Android phone with high-resolution displays, multi-core processing units and ample RAM storage to handle the intensive graphics required of these games. In order to utilize such an application on an internet connection that supports WiFi, 3G or 4G services.
Factors contributing to the surge in mobile gaming industry growth include people being busier than ever before and less time available for leisure activities like gaming. Furthermore, smartphone technology makes accessing our favorite games anywhere more feasible; many individuals find mobile gambling more practical than visiting physical casinos.
These trends are altering the nature of gambling behavior, with implications for designing mobile games. We explore ways in which mobile games converge with gambling behavior, how reinforcement schedules and latencies may influence user persistence, context and cognition issues in mobile gambling as well as distinguishing features unique to this form of playing.
This research suggests that mobile gambling games can indeed induce gambling behavior and that reinforcement schedules play a key role in their success. Furthermore, associative learning of rewards and reinforcement schedules has the ability to trigger specific patterns of persistence from users; this has serious ramifications for how gambling should be regulated.
Current real cash casino games available to mobile players consist primarily of betting and slot machine options, due to an increasing focus on casino gaming from bookmakers as well as advances in mobile hardware that can meet its intensive demands. Most mobile casinos are run by major operators who account for much of their revenues generated in this sector.
Participants in this study completed several questionnaires (Gambling Questions, PGSI and GRCS) as well as a computerised contingency judgement task designed to examine illusion of control bias associated with gambling. All tasks were carried out within laboratory settings at The School of Psychology at University of Nottingham and GPS coordinates of each participant were recorded each time they pressed a button on an app; participants were explicitly requested to opt-in for recording this data while being advised they could change settings on their phone in order to prevent recording altogether.
Mobile casino gambling is an increasingly popular activity among players, and most top casino sites provide a vast selection of mobile games. While some offer games specifically targeted towards different operating systems (IOS versus Android), most high-quality casinos support both operating systems. Players should ensure their chosen mobile casino is licensed, secure, and has customer support teams available 24/7 via email, live chat or telephone if any issues arise.
