Sports betting apps for Android and iOS devices are decreasing in numbers because online bookies now favor HTML5 code that allows them to offer their sports book services via a mobile browser app.
Sports betting is currently big business making up for the lion’s share of online gambling – even more so than land-based and online casinos. It has been like this even before the internet. In most countries such as the UK casinos are a rarity generally found in big cities and holiday destinations, while high streets sportsbooks are everywhere. You can find high street bookies in cities, towns, and villages. which with this exposure is exactly why sports betting is the biggest gambling market in not just the UK but globally.
It also seems that having a flutter on sports is far more widely accepted than playing at a casino. This is especially true in the UK where entire families will place a wager on events such as Wimbledon, Ascott, Cheltenham, the Grand National, and the FA Cup final while in the US it is traditionally the Superbowl because the bookmakers offer similar odds that are easy to bet on for these events even for those that are not regular sport betting gurus.
The Evolution of Online Sportsbooks and Mobile Apps
Way back in the 1990s when the internet came to light, it was once again sports books that took the limelight within the overall gambling industry. With limited connection speeds during the internet’s infant years, it was still an easy enough task to create a sport betting website that could accept basic wagers. On the other hand, it was much harder for online casinos to run casino games over such as slow connection.
As with the above mentioned ‘high street bookies Vs land-based casino’ situation, the online bookies also won the race in the ‘online bookies Bs online casinos’ arena. Sportsbooks online continues to grow in popularity with betting websites recording new revenue records year-on-year.
The Evolution of Betting Apps
In 2008 smartphones hit the tech market which we can all agree changed all our lives. Today our smartphones are arguably closer to us than our own family members and friends. From touch screen tech game internet browsers, and from our internet browsers we could connect to the World Wide Web, but at the time it was difficult placing bets on the sports betting websites because all the betting sites were using simple HTML code targeting desktops—as with all website in all niche markets.
This is when ‘mobile apps’ became the new fad in mobile/smartphone technology. Sports betting websites were quick to hire Android and iOS app experts to design apps that would give their members access to all the betting functions the website had via their smartphones.
Once mobile betting apps were on the market,the sport betting industry went global!
Android and iOS Browser Apps Are Now the Most Popular ‘Betting Apps’
Browser apps such as Chrome, Firefox, IE and Edge, Safari, Brave, and many more all support HTML5 which is a mobile responsive code that adapts to the device user’s screen and hardware peripherals. The result of loading an HTML5 page gives the user the same look and feel as a custom designed mobile app with the only difference being that the connection to resources comes via a browser.
To makeaccess to HTML5 sports betting via a browser even more like an app, all players need to do is save the website as a shortcut on their smartphone or tablet’s home screen. In the end, the same quick access to exactly the same functionalities is mimicked which effectively means the Android or iOS browser app is also a sports betting app.
Mobile App Downloads for Sportsbooks Are Still Available
Despite the extra costs involved with maintaining mobile apps and their specialized Android or iOS code the larger sports betting websites still offer their members the chance to download an app to access their sports betting services. And the reason why is simple – sports betting is so big; the extra costs are worth keeping their loyal customers happy by giving them access in the way that they prefer!
It is completely down to personal preference. Some people just prefer to have everything inside an app, while others prefer not to have an app installed on their device taking up physical memory if they can piggyback off their browser.
