Survey finds 1 in 5 employees use mobiles to gamble at work

Good news for the online casino industry in the UK, may be worse news for other industries, if the findings of the survey conducted by topmobilecasino.co.uk are to be believed. According to the survey, conducted on 2,000 people, 20% of employees access casinos on mobile devices during working hours.

This means that as many as one in five of us in the UK use our phones to place wagers while we should be working.

The survey also found:

• Over half of British people (2.1 out of 4) gamble using their mobiles
• Over half of gamblers (55%) use their smartphones for casino games
• 30% of gamblers visit online casinos and other gambling sites each day
• Three quarters of gamblers on mobile devices are male

Although the demographics of this particular survey are undisclosed, the results may offer some clues about the potential future of the online gambling industry.

The necessity to visit the betting shop or a land-based casino – but even to boot up our desktops and laptops – may well have diminished. Although, of course, these do remain the methods of choice for many gamblers, and show no signs of becoming obsolete just yet.

However, mobile devices seem likely to represent increasing significance to the industry. According to the most recent Global Online Gambling & Betting Market report, mobile gambling will grow to account for 40% or more of the online gambling market over the next three years.

This may be unsettling news for employers who would much rather their employees’ attention remains on their work but in truth, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The use of mobile phones for gambling has seen a steady year-on-year increase. And we don’t have the data to support this claim but we think the overall use of mobile phones has increased too, as developers make more and more apps for mobile devices and even wearables.

These days, you can do anything via your mobile, from paying back a loan to organising your holidays to keeping track of your health. As our phones are doing more for us, it makes sense that we turn to them for entertainment as well as all the other functions they perform for us.

It would be unthinkable to go anywhere without your phone – that’s how important this bit of technology has become to most of us.

Of course, mobile use, just like gambling, can be problematic and indeed, the easy access our phones give us to gambling opportunities may make it harder for those with gambling issues to stay in control of their play. Luckily, reputable casino brands have ensured that player safety remains a top priority, whichever device they use to access gambling products.

Now, get back to work.

Updated on 4th April 2019