The online gaming industry in India has grown exponentially in the past few years. Back in 2016, the market was valued at $290 million, and projections spoke about it reaching and passing the mind-blowing $1 billion milestone by the year 2021. In 2020, the country rose to the top position in terms of mobile game downloads worldwide, with a whopping 7.3 billion recorded installs and a 17% market share of the total volume of installed gaming apps worldwide.
Are these numbers enough to propel the country high up into the global ranking of gambling countries? Definitely, according to many expert voices in the industry. India seems to have the perfect mix of factors that can turn it into the next big gambling nation, closely following in the footsteps of Australia, another indisputable top gambling nation.
Without further ado, let’s delve a little deeper into the topic and find out more about what drives India to keep heading towards a global leadership position.
Factors That Influence the Gaming Industry’s Growth in India
PUGB Mobile and Pokémon GO gave players forced to stay indoors during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic the incentive to engage in some of the immersive gaming experiences from the comfort of their own home, which largely contributed to the fast-paced growth on the sector of mobile gaming in India. However, the country is also home to more than 400 gaming companies originating in all parts of the world, many of which specialize in gambling and e-sports. In fact, e-sports account for over 4% of the country’s database of users resulting in a quickly growing sports betting industry in India. The development is strikingly similar to that of Australia. According to PwC’s Australian Entertainment & Media Industry Report for 2018, the Australian eSports market generated an impressive total revenue of $8 million, with future projections of $21 million for 2022. Jack Harris of Australia-Casino recently published an article about the growth of Australia’s gaming industry, commenting that the growth is due to the country’s proclivity for gaming and love of sports. Similarly, Indians’ undeniable passion for games and sports, in general, has also led to the impressive growth of the gaming industry in the country. Casino gaming, cricket, horse racing, and tennis are all extremely popular pastimes that both of the nations enjoy engaging in. Punters enjoy both watching live sports and placing wagers using online and offline sportsbooks, while passionate gamers like to emerge in fun casino play both online and offline.
Cheap Smartphones and the Need to Emerge in Virtual Entertaining
Moreover, this surge in Indians’ interest in gaming can also be explained through the exponentially rising necessity to enjoy virtual forms of entertainment together with friends and family. With more and more influential gamers in the country that are using the powerful impact they have on gamers to encourage them to play more digital games, it would seem that India is doing nothing more but following the natural course of things. Digital devices are selling at cheaper prices by the day and they have become more available than ever. Digital gaming is rapidly turning mainstream, and this would only make the demand for more versatile gaming content to be on the rise.
Mobile gaming has gained the largest market share due to the unrestricted access to cheaper smartphones whose number is going up at an impressive rate of 15% each year, as well as the fast 4G technology that lets gamers enjoy instant gaming and the smallest data tariffs on the planet. Mixed with the increasing number of games available on mobile devices, it is easy to understand why the youth here are expressing a greater appetite for gaming content on the go.
Young Players Active on the Internet
India also counts over 628 million gamers who are extremely active on the Internet. The country is only surpassed by China when it comes to the number of active internet users, and the figures are expected to keep rising and reach up to 829 million users by the end of 2021. Most of these players are under the age of 25 and owners of at least one smartphone. Overall, the factors combined paint a picture of India on the rise to become the next major gambling nation on the planet, possibly even larger than the Australian market.