Said Neill Whyte, head of product channels for Microgaming: “The explosion of mobile gaming over the last 12 months, driven largely by the increased adoption of smartphones in developing countries, represents a huge opportunity for providers.”

Meanwhile, new rules inLas Vegasallowing gambling beyond the casino floor will be a great boon for the likes of Cantor Gaming, with its mobile sportsbook, and we can surely expect to see many more such services spring up over the next year.

But it’s not just the activity of gaming itself which can be, well, mobilised. Working with Bally Technologies, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino inHollywood,Floridahas committed itself to a wide-ranging set of customer services available via mobile apps, available both on Apple’s iTunes and the Android Market.

“The mobile app puts the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino right at patrons’ fingertips,” said Jeanine Repa, senior vice president of brand marketing at Seminole Gaming.

It lets them buy concert tickets, inspect and book hotel rooms, learn about  game rules, sign up for tournaments, read restaurant menus and make reservations, or consult GPS maps of the venue and surrounding area. They can even order room service while they’re playing in the casino so that it’s waiting for them upstairs.

Yet more features are planned, too. And while smaller operators probably won’t want or need an app as sophisticated as this casino’s, the principle underlying it – that giving the customer easily-accessed information will encourage them to take up more aspects of your offer – can easily be scaled down.

It seems that far from being a pure threat to land-based gaming operators’ revenue streams, mobile could become another way to enhance them.

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