Mobile Poker Apps Becoming Increasingly Common

Two online gambling companies have announced real money mobile phone apps in the last two days, quickly escalating the access players have to gambling on the go.

Yesterday, bwin launched the first ever real money iPhone app that would allow players to play online poker. It was only available for purchase in the United Kingdom in Austria initially, but was expected to get a wider release throughout Europe in the near future.

Today, Microgaming joined in on the fun, announcing that they would be launching a real money online poker application for the Android before the end of the quarter. The app would be available for all poker rooms on the Microgaming network.

“For years now, industry experts have speculated on the mobile market’s possibilities for gaming,” Microgaming head of poker Lydia Melton told Card Player Europe. “The technology is ready, the software is ready, and we believe the players are ready as well. The future is here. We are extremely excited about this release.”

While mobile gaming has been a growth industry for several years now, little progress had been made in porting real money gambling to mobile phones. However, many industry analysts had predicted that 2011 would see a noticeable increase in mobile gambling, owing to the increasingly impressive capabilities of mobile phones and the increasing market share of smart phones.

While these programs are among the first wave of real money poker games for smart phones, it’s likely that many more poker rooms and networks will soon follow suit. In contrast, many online casinos have already launched apps that allow customers to play their games on many mobile phones. Mobile poker apps may have lagged behind due to the larger amount of data required and the higher security standards needed for a game in which players are competing against each other for real money.