Traditionally, most sports betting takes place in brick and mortar establishments, but with online betting now responsible for 30% of operator revenue, the trend indicates that mobile betting is the future of the industry.

Juniper Research reports that wagers on mobile devices will reach $100bn by 2017. Underpinning these statistics is the fact that smartphone penetration is growing fastest among the socio-economic groups who make up store visitors. In the next five years, land-based sites are likely to decline and mobile wagering will become the prominent revenue stream.

Many factors contributed to this rise, but none more so than the penetration of smartphones and tablets. Over 50% of the UK adult population owns a mobile device; while over 80% of 25-34 year olds now have a smartphone.

Of course, that’s great news for operators - especially when a third of these owners have used their device to gamble online.

Although there have been some huge strides made in the mobile betting market, operators still face many challenges in a very competitive market. If everyone is offering the same standard features, then punters won’t be able to establish any significant point of difference.

The key to success in this market is product differentiation. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is by identifying new offerings, evidenced none more so than William Hill’s ‘Cash in my bet’ feature that puts punters in control of their live bets and gives them the opportunity to take their winnings or cut their losses at any time.

In a Q&A this year between sportsbook affiliate Freebets.com and William Hill, the importance of offering unique features such as ‘Cash in my bet’ were highlighted. Nadav Linden, Head of Affiliation at William Hill Online said that:

“It offers punters such a level of control over their bets that it’s an extremely appealing feature. It has returned nearly £90m to almost 400,000 punters who have cashed in since 15/12/12.”

Years of market research has determined that consumers enjoy product choice and mobile devices offer them the ability to oversee the market with ease, which means that over time, consumers will identify operators that cater for their needs and they will feel less inclined to shop around, which emphasises the importance of establishing a reputable brand.

Operators are now executing strategies that encourage greater consumer loyalty - demonstrated by Sky Bet and their ‘Sky Bet Club,’ which offers users exclusive rewards including a free £5 bet every week. Operators will need to continue to tailor their promotional efforts to target customer retention, while at the same time encouraging increased spending per active player.

Innovative new features will play a huge part in how a punter chooses an app as competition continues to intensify, and in today’s day and age – standing out from the crowd is going to be essential.

Social media has become an integral part of an operator’s mobile strategy; you only have to take inspiration from games such as Candy Crush to see that there is a big market for people playing socially. That is surely to be explored further over the next few years.

Paddy Power, who are the top performer on social media, have achieved the greatest reach and exposure, having adopted a content strategy consisting largely of memes and amusing sports based content, rather than focusing content around product offerings and strategy.

Monitoring trends on the likes of Twitter, alongside activity on apps, is key in the way that offerings are rolled out. Many sportsbook operators enforce push notifications and any customers who download an app willingly, agree to receive mobile marketing notifications.

As the industry evolves, it is expected that we’ll see features such as push notifications specifically tailored to user preferences, which can be gathered by their betting history.

It’s certainly an exciting period for the industry, even on the back of a difficult few years in terms of the economy.

Brands are continuing to push the boundaries, and with all signs pointing towards mobile being the present and future, long term strategy should reflect and enhance this development - perhaps even away from the betting shops that we find on the high street today.