Mobile Casino App Trends in India

90 Percent of Online Casino Searches Come from Mobile
A recent research article on casino apps adoption and trends by large Indian real money gaming comparison platform SevenJackpots reveals that "around 90% of all players looking for casinos are doing so from their mobile devices".

One of the reasons behind the popularity of casino apps is the dominant share of Android phones on the Indian market. Research data shows that all top 6 brands of smartphones use the open-source operating system, with these brands boasting a collective share of 89 percent of all devices used for casino gaming in India.

"Android devices are cheap, user friendly, has good storage space, and are open source, resulting in real money gambling apps being more widely available for Android users than for iOS users," the industry researchers at SevenJackpots explain.

Publicly available statistical sources confirm these trends, with Android phones holding a 95.23 percent share of all smartphones in India by the end of 2020, while iOS takes the second position with merely a 3.2 percent share. It is worth noting that Android's share hiked from a little bit over 10 percent in 2012 to more than 60 percent by 2016, before continuing its advance to the present-day levels.

In terms of device brands, the smartphones by Xiaomi are the most popular among desi gamblers even though they entered the Indian market as late as 2016. The Chinese brand has overtaken South Korean giant Samsung which now holds the second largest market share in India. The third place is taken by Vivo, with Oppo, Realme, OnePlus, and Apple filling in the rest of the chart.

Quarterly smartphone market share data for Q1 2022 provided by the CounterPoint Market Monitor Service show a similar distribution pattern within the whole mobile market attributing a share of 23 percent to the leader Xiaomi. Samsung follows with 20 percent, while the next three positions are taken by RealMe with 16 percent, Vivo with 15 percent, and Oppo with a 9 percent share, while other brands collectively account for the remaining 17 percent of the Indian market.

Localization is Key
The experts at SevenJackpots highlight the importance of localization of gaming websites regardless if the platform offerings focus on slots, roulette, blackjack online and other classic Western titles, or pay a pointed attention to traditional Indian and Asian games, including Andar Bahar, Teen Patti, Ludo, Jhandi Munda, Sic Bo and others.

"India is a unique mobile market! Our study highlights State traction: yes, casino game apps in Hindi are fundamental but gamers also look for intuitive online casino apps in Marathi (16.7%), Kannada (9.2%) and Telugu (8.4%). Operators should provide native support and boost browser-based casino games as well," states industry researcher Svilen Madjov.

India Registers First Ever Decline in Smartphone Shipments
The global supply chain crisis concerning high-tech components, coupled with a shrinking demand caused by the third wave of Covid-19 that impacted India, has resulted in the first ever quarterly decline in smartphone shipments to the country for Q1 2022, measured at 1 percent on a YoY (year-on-year) basis.

"India's smartphone market registered its first ever Q1 decline in Q1 2022. The quarter started on a slower note due to the third COVID-19 wave. However, demand picked up in the fourth week of January. The component issues were a major reason for this decline and affected almost all the brands," comments Prachir Singh, senior research analyst at CounterPoint.

"OEMs are adopting various strategies to tackle the supply issues, such as expanding the supplier portfolio and increasing local sourcing. However, the market is expected to remain modest in Q2 2022 as well due to supply disruptions arising from the COVID-19 situation in China," Singh adds.

RealMe is the only smartphone brand among the top 5 which registered a YoY growth in Q1 2022, to a large extent helped by the adoption of UNISOC chipsets for the brand's mass-market models. The sales hike was at the massive 40 percent and allowed the brand to claim the third market position.

Apple also registered a YoY growth of 5 percent during this year's first quarter, based on aggressive offline channel marketing of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 series, combined with an expansion of the brand's manufacturing capabilities within India.