This is a guest contribution by Rasmus Sojmark, founder & CEO of SBC Global. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

The international gaming industry has seen sports betting become a phenomenon over the last two decades, and its rapid rise is something we are no strangers to at SBC Global. We have witnessed the vertical continue to grow out of betting shops and expand with the internet onto desktop, before blowing up on smartphones in the early 2010s and going from strength to strength ever since.

The influence of smartphones on this growth certainly bears more than a passing mention. Around 2006 was when mobile became the hottest word on everyone’s lips in the sports betting industry, but it was not until later that it began to truly take hold in the minds of players, operators and suppliers alike, with responsive web design and remarkable innovations such as in-play betting, and later cash out features, transforming the relationship between player and bookmaker.

Putting an increasingly active sports betting experience in the palm of people’s hands, with thousands of worldwide markets available with the swipe of a finger has seen sports betting rise to become the dynamic and colossal industry that it is today. There are a number of factors at play that the industry must be prepared to tackle, however, if it is to continue with this positive upward momentum and grow at the same rate it has done in recent times.