Poll results: Mobile tops 2013 hotlist

With an increasing number of egaming operators and service providers seeing their respective mobile offerings mature in recent months, and with smartphone and tablet devices becoming even more diverse and sophisticated, it is perhaps little surprise that this week’s poll saw eGaming Review readers suggest 2013 will be the year mobile overtakes desktop as the egaming channel of choice.

Nearly half of those polled (48%) believe this will be the case, with this week’s announcement from NetPlay TV that its fourth-quarter mobile revenues had trebled year-on-year potentially laying out the shape of things to come.

This week also saw Virgin Games acquired by Gamesys, a deal which joins last month’s agreement for William Hill and GVC to acquire Sportingbet in pointing the way towards increased consolidation. Some 27% of voters believe this will be the most significant egaming theme of the year.

Elsewhere, a 12% vote suggests reports of the demise of the poker network have been greatly exaggerated. Last year may have seen the departure of IGT Poker from the market, however progress made by Microgaming’s newly rebranded MPN may have played a role in readers considering there is life in the model yet.

The same proportion of readers consider 2013 to be the year that many social gaming companies will attempt to sell and move onto arguably other projects including real money.

Plumbee may have announced a real-money joint venture with Sportingbet in December, shortly after Zynga’s agreement with bwin.party made the headlines, however the existing virtual credits environment is yet to run its course according to those polled.