If you thought it was convenient to play blackjack online 24/7 at home, just wait till you try mobile gambling. The mobile casino is the next logical step in the online casino industry, bringing your favorite online games right to your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone. There are even a few older model phones that support mobile gaming, but for the most part, it’s geared toward today’s smart phones.

Mobile web casinos mean that you can play wherever you can get a 3G connection. Until recently, it was a big enough deal that you could gamble any time using your computer at home, but now you can pretty much gamble anywhere as well. There are three basic approaches to using your mobile device for online wagering: using the mobile version of the site itself; using an iPhone app; or using an Android app.

In many cases, you can use your smart phone simply by going to the mobile version of your favorite casino’s website. If it doesn’t already have a mobile version, it probably will soon: the market is just too lucrative. You would play on your handheld device just as you would on your computer at home. Everything’s smaller, but you have the same high-tech experience you would on your computer at home.

iPhone apps are slow in coming, though they do exist. The UK’s Betfair, Ireland’s Paddy Power, and Austria’s Bwin are three European sites that offer iPhone betting apps specific to their sites. Betfair and Paddy Power apps work only in the UK and Ireland, while Bwin’s only works in the UK and Austria, as of late 2010, though other countries are expected to be added rapidly.

Android mobile casino apps look like they will be more abundant, due to the non-proprietary nature of the Android operating system and the growing popularity of Android phones in Europe. The Irish Betdaq is staking its fortunes on Android apps, on the belief that while the iPhone has fueled the expansion of smart mobile devices in general, Androids may be the better long-term option, not least because getting an app approved for the iPhone Apps store is harder than getting one approved for an Android app store.

There is little doubt about the future of mobile pokerlegenda. While currently only about 5% of the bets placed online are done on mobile devices, this number is expected to rocket to more like 50% over the next three to five years. A recent survey by Juniper Research on mobile gaming markets shows that mobile casinos are expanding rapidly, and could see mobile wagers exceeding $48 billion by the year 2015!

For the most part, the most popular games among mobile casino bettors are games based on slots, poker, and blackjack. An Android app titled “Video Slots,” which is not a casino game, did not take long to garner 50,000 downloads. Another non-casino game, “Crastangers,” a survival game in which you must save children from eating CROSTERS, took longer to garner 4 million downloads. But one game in the Android app store that is a children’s card game, “Cinness,” is already attracting 10 million downloads.

However, some Android games are also offering bonus prizes, including “PRO,” or “MIRACLE” bonuses that offer extra prizes in addition to the money from the game.

Juniper Research’s survey of mobile casino users also found that most mobile players between the ages of 18 and 65 are more likely to try casino games on a mobile device than on a computer at home. 79% of these individuals play casino games mobile, while just 15% play online.

juniper research is currently projecting that mobile casino gross revenue will exceed $15 billion in 2011. Regular mobile casino game players are already turning off their mobile phones, as 43% of mobile playersOffline don’t play casino games on their mobile device, according to Juniper Research.

juniper research is also projecting that the proportion of mobile casino users who intend to gamble regularly, will increase from 5% to nearly 20% of all mobile device owners worldwide.

Many casino experts are also trumpeting the business opportunities in mobile casino usability, noting that the bigger the screen on a mobile phone, the more applications available, and the more games people can play. A NEC research report estimates that in 2009, there will be 75 million smart phone users, and of those, nearly 50% will have a mobile phone with Internet capability.

Equally important to note, is that the bigger the screen on a mobile phone, the more applications available, including those that may be considered “instant’ or ‘free’ phonebooks, or social networking applications. These applications will also be the most popular as a finale to a successful casino gaming session.