The growth of the mobile application industry is staggering. In 2017, for example, there were 5 million available across both the Android Play Store and Apple App Store, with the former peaking at 3.6 million in 2018.
However, there’s no doubt that there is a trend away from apps currently. Global app downloads in 2020, for example, were down to 64 billion, a drop of around 80 billion. Betting providers, while big fans of traditional applications are leveraging websites to their advantage. What do they see in the technology?
Similar specifications
Bookmakers and betting companies need platforms that can host their extensive libraries, which means they must be powerful to ensure they are consistent and don’t harm the user experience. A native app has been viewed as the way forward for the last decade because it’s small yet packs a significant punch. After all, they are speedy and can leverage features such as GPS and Bluetooth.
However, mobile websites have caught up massively thanks to the emergence of responsive web design techniques. Slot machines are prime examples of the suitability of mobile-friendly sites as they contain a slew of different features, from classic slots to video slots. Bingo is another game that combines various elements to create exciting gameplay, such as Slingo (slots and bingo), and therefore requires brawny software to make sure it runs smoothly. Websites provide the perfect foil because sites like Slingo bingo are responsively designed and so resize to suit your device’s screen size, regardless of the game you choose. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Slingo Riches or Slingo Extreme as the integrated web design takes care of the rest.
One area where the two aren’t equal is the cost. App development is costly and time-consuming, leading betting companies to search for new ways to host the same content while cutting costs. They seem to have found it in mobile-friendly websites.
Fewer restrictions
When applications were invented, nobody saw the pitfalls that were as inevitable as the sun rising and setting. As time has gone on, they have become clearer, especially to the brands that don’t control the online stores.
By accepting the terms and conditions of Apple and Android, the two biggest app platforms on the market, companies are beholden to their rules and have come off worse in many instances. For example, Google blocked a million apps from their platform in 2018. Apple, on the other hand, is in a dispute with Valve over how much money Steam games have made through the App Store. Businesses can’t risk that they will be one of them, which is why they require a solution.
Now that technology means the differences between apps and mobile sites are smaller, it’s a no-brainer for the likes of betting companies because there are fewer restrictions concerning websites. After all, they don’t have to adhere to anybody else’s terms and conditions, such as following codes of conduct and paying hosts’ fees.