Why India is Eyed as a Country to Have the Next Biggest Gambling Market

The online sector of the gambling industry continues to grow and gambling companies are now eyeing different countries with the potential to sustain a thriving gambling market. One of these countries is India and it doesn’t come as a surprise. Other industries also think the same way about India and it has become a place full of potential according to professionals on industries like medicine and cryptocurrencies.

Today, a cricket betting website in India like 10CRIC is gaining more popularity and so are online casino games like Teen Patti and Andar Bahar. Online gambling is becoming a common activity in the country that the local gambling industry is already valued at almost a billion US dollars.

Experts project that the Indian online gambling sector could be valued at over 112 billion US dollars in three more years. With that, we can only expect that the market will see more expansion and the online gambling experience in the country will just get better.

What Makes India Has Such a Potential?

India has a population of over 1.3 billion and around 750 million of these people are internet users. Economic Times India reported that in three years, India should already have over 900 million users and Statista went as far as projecting that the country would have over 1.5 billion internet users by 2040.

Half of the country’s population is also under the age of 25 and the majority of them are online. The young Indian population is very much into mobile gaming too. In fact, in 2019, it was recorded that there are over 5.6 billion downloads of mobile gaming apps which were the highest in the world.

With smartphones becoming more affordable yet powerful, more people are gaining access to it. It is estimated that the country already has over 750 million smartphone users. With that, it simply means that online gambling companies have the capability of reaching this many people.

This is why it is no surprise that many gambling companies and investors are starting to give India more attention. French video game company Ubisoft now has two development studios in the country. Rockstar Games known for the Grand Theft Auto franchise has also acquired Dhruva interactive which is an Indian video game development company in Bengaluru not so long ago. Later on, they merged with Rockstar India Studio and now have over 500 employees.

Online games platform Baazi Games that is located in Kolkata is also planning to invest 5 million USD in India’s gaming market this year. They are hoping that this could help start-ups nurture the latest gaming tech in the country. Another big name in the gaming industry, Tencent, is also considering doing the same thing. No details are released as to how much the company is willing to invest and when they will do so.

How the Pandemic Affected India’s Gaming Industry

While the local gaming segment has been steadily growing over the last few years, the COVID 19 pandemic has somehow boosted the growth of this industry. This didn’t only happen in India but also to the global online gambling industry.

Still, it’s worth pointing out that the country experienced significant growth in the mobile gaming segment. Mobile gaming platform PayTM First Games reported an increase of 200 percent in its userbase in March 2020. According to them, there were over 5 million app downloads during the lockdown.

They also saw that many of the locals downloaded online regional games like Ludo and Rummy. According to their report, there were over 400,000 users that played the game Ludo daily during the lockdown. They also recorded over 200,000 new users who play the game every day. On average, people spent around 32 to 45 minutes playing games on their mobile devices.

The same is also observed by WinZO that reported an increase in traffic of 30 percent during the start of the lockdown. The game’s multiplayer mode grew to 35 percent and the majority of the users were actively using the audio and video features while playing the game to socialize with other players.

Other games that became more popular since the pandemic started aside from Ludo King are PUBG Mobile that raked in a total of over 2.6 billion USD of revenue last year. Other first shooter games that are now popularly played in India are Garena Free Fire and Call of Duty Mobile.

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