Mobile Phone Gambling on the Increase

Gambling by mobile phone has increased rapidly, with the number of betting pages downloaded expected to approach three million this year, a rise of 367 per cent on 2004.

Mintel’s research found Britain's mobile phone junkies are set to blow an astounding £740m on phone downloads this year alone, some eighteen times the £40m spent in 2002.

Ring-tones for phones account for a third of downloads. Arcade-style games are also popular (26%), as are screensavers and wallpaper (13%), and music (8%). But the biggest growth area has been in gambling, which now accounts for 9 per cent of all downloads.