Ireland's Love Affair With Mobile Betting

The Irish as a nation love a punt, and the extent to which this is borne out has been demonstrated by recent research published in 'The Economist' showing that we have the third highest per capita gambling losses globally (behind only Australia and Singapore). The country as a whole is calculated to have lost €2.1 billion in 2016, which works out at €470 for every adult in the country.

While our fondness for a flutter won't come as a surprise to too many people, what is of more interest is what the research says about how our gambling habits have changed.

It is clear that, like much of the rest of the world, we have embraced mobile sports and horse racing betting with enormous enthusiasm, with online gambling now the country’s preferred method of having a punt, significantly ahead of traditional on-course bookmakers and betting shops — for instance, it’s estimated that 80 per cent of customers with a Paddy Power account now bet exclusively on their mobile devices.

This change in how we bet is further evidenced by the significant decline of the high street bookmaker. The number of betting shops in Ireland decreased by over 400 from 2008 to 2015 (down to 948 from 1,365), and there have been further closures since, with independent bookmakers Hackett’s going into liquidation in 2016.

There’s little doubt that it’s the ubiquity of the mobile phone that is in large part responsible for the huge shift towards online betting. Ireland now has the highest rate of mobile phone internet usage in the developed world, with a third of the country using a portable device as their main means of connecting to the internet (up significantly from only 15% in 2015).

But the technology alone can’t explain why Ireland has embraced mobile betting in the way that it has. The fact that mobile betting apps provide such a huge range of markets on global racing and sports, along with a multitude of other features, is the real reason why punters have abandoned the bookies for their phones.

Mobile sports betting apps do more than just let you make a bet - you get extensive form guides, statistical information and real-time updates, while the best mobile horse racing sites will give you tips from the experts, race replays and live streaming of UK and Irish meetings as well. This means that the punter of today is better informed than ever before, and has access to this wealth of information wherever they are and at any time of the day or night.

In addition, the highly competitive nature of the industry means that mobile betting apps and online sports books are compelled to offer attractive odds across their markets. The larger operators can do this because they have the flexibility that comes from being part of an international conglomerate, and so can afford to work on smaller margins because of the high turnover they’re able to generate as a result of their marketing and reach.

This fierce competition between operators is also driven by online odds comparison sites, where you can see at a glance what prices the whole range of sports books are offering on the same race or event. None of them can afford to be offering prices that don't stack up against their rivals, and so this competition also leads to better odds for punters.

Much of the appeal of mobile betting apps also stems from the sheer variety of markets they offer. While there is naturally a focus on big tournaments and the best-known names, minority sports and more obscure leagues can also be bet on, and so for those who take an interest in international games, or sports that don't get much mainstream coverage, mobile apps are an ideal solution.

For many, however, the biggest appeal of mobile betting apps are in-play betting and cash out facilities. The latter in particular has led to a huge boom in accumulator betting, as being able to cash out means you have the ability to cut your losses when a leg looks like letting you down. This is a clear example of the way in which technology has changed the way we engage with our bets — if you’re on a five fold acca and the last leg looks it might be heading south, you need to be ready to make the cash out call at any time, and no matter where you are. This hugely popular form of betting wouldn’t be possible without mobile apps that keep punters in the loop at all times.

The rapid pace of technological change, combined with our ever-increasing reliance on mobile devices to get online, makes it hard to imagine that we won’t be using our phones to bet more and more in the future. And as mobile sports books become increasingly imaginative and innovative in the specials that they offer around big meetings like the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National, as well as the sorts of in-play and accumulator bets they offer on football and other sports, Ireland’s love affair with mobile betting appears set to become even more intense in the coming years.