Worldwide, mobile gaming is booming. But in Australia, it is positively exploding. Data gathered by the market research experts at InMobi shows the flame hit the touchpaper in 2020, when both the number of gamers and the amount of time spent gaming increased exponentially. No surprises there, but the remarkable thing is that these numbers have not tailed off now that life has returned to normal. On the contrary, they continue to rise, albeit at a reduced rate than that seen in 2020-21.
Mobile all the way for Aussie gamers
Globally, we know that console and PC gaming is fighting a losing battle against mobile. But in Australia, they have, figuratively speaking, packed up and gone home in despair. 85 percent of Australians play games on their mobile devices.
This points towards more casual gaming – gamers who play games because they are freely available but would not be prepared to spend money on a gaming console and games. That is partially true, but there are other factors in play, too.
Aussie gamers are older than you think
We all have a certain mental picture of a gamer, and it is probably not a young mother or a guy who looks like a bank manager. However, the research shows that more than 40 percent of male Australian gamers are aged 45 and over, while the majority of female gamers are in their 30s. Even more interesting, 58 percent of gamers are female.
Casino gaming is a huge attraction
We’ve all heard the old tropes about Australians being willing to bet on two flies crawling up a wall. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and the Australian love for gambling equates to $30 billion laid down in wagers every year. For a nation with a total population of only 25 million, that is serious spending, comfortably exceeding every other nationality on a per capita basis.
When casinos and pubs closed their doors and rendered the pokies inaccessible, it was a big deal. Australian casinos might be banned from operating online, but there were and are dozens of offshore casino platforms glad to welcome Aussie customers. The Australia Internet Pokies site at https://www.australiainternetpokies.com/casino-games/slots/ provides more details about pokies like Cricket Star, Lord’s Balcony and Rush Cricket Live and dozens of others. It also gives some useful information about the different sites and the special offers that attract Australian casino players.
Suddenly, those earlier figures about gamers being a little older than expected, especially the male ones, makes more sense, as the biggest spenders on pokies are men in the 50 to 65 age range.
Most Aussies are committed gamers
Casual and committed – the two might sound like opposites, but while casual describes the type of games favored, committed is all about regularity. Seven out of eight Australian mobile gamers are committed, meaning they play at least daily. This tallies with the most popular gaming categories, which, aside from the real money casino games we have already mentioned, include word games and puzzle games.
These correspond with the other demographic we mentioned – women in their 30s who might be in full time work or perhaps bringing up young children. Either way, these are groups who welcome brief timeouts throughout the day, even if they are only for a few minutes at a time. Word games and puzzle games are ideal to fit into these short gaming windows.
