China Overtaking US Gaming Market

The main growth area in the gambling market has shifted from the console or personal computer based options & is strongly moving towards online & mobile platforms. This is attributed to the explosive popularity of smartphones as well as other mobile devices. This includes internet-ready devices like tablets which users find more convenient to make use of than traditional consoles. China, whose gambling market is focused online, is now on the road to dominate the global market

For several years, the United States has been the dominant force in the gambling industry, a profitable market earning billions of dollars in profits each year. In 2009 total video game revenues reached $77 billion, rivaling that of Hollywood with global revenues reaching $85 billion in the coursework of the same period. But with current trends in the gambling market, the US will finally relinquish its hold of the top spot to China by the year 2014 according to new research conducted by industry specialist Digi-Capital.

The document from Digi-Capital predicts the gambling console market to stagnate is growth & revenues in the approaching years & will finally get replaced by online games & social networks. The popularity of online games in social networks has been tremendous. Video game developers such as Zynga are earning billions in revenues from integrated ads & the micro-currency systems which was effective in making more people play more games by charging tiny amounts for game play & other accessories.

The Rise of Social & Mobile Games

China Gearing Up to Be Top Gambling Market

Mobile & online games are expected to grow with an 18% CAGR, earning revenues of up to $44 billion or 50% of the total $87 billion that the video games market is expected to reach. Online & mobile game developing companies in the US & Japan are obtaining additional investments to further this growth, a sharp contrast to the stagnated growth of gambling console publishers which require millions of units in sales to break even.

The Chinese games market is currently at 12% of the world's total as of today but is expected to take on 50% of total revenues by the year 2014 with its current growth rate. This will be in contrast with the US share in the coursework of this same period which is expected to decrease from 26% to 22%. China is now powering up with immense inflow of capital investments with companies such as Tencent moving beyond the local sphere & grabbing a major hold in the US video game market with the recent acquisition of Riot Games.

Chinese companies are always looking for types of investments. is investing in foreign companies which they will use as business platforms so that they can leverage their domestic strength & accomplish international growth. Another type is investing in foreign technologies & intellectual properties which they in turn will leverage to dominate the immense Chinese domestic market. This trend is what is happening now in the gambling market.

Tencent is already peaking at twenty million online users simultaneously - a figure bigger than the population of plenty of countries - & is expecting these numbers to grow in the approaching periods. Aside from Tencent, other Chinese companies such as ChanYou.com, Giant, NetEase & Shanda are experiencing billion-dollar growths - all of which are expanding quickly & growing beyond the confines of their home markets.