Why Poker Could Be Among the Next Smartphone Trends

mobile poker

When we talk about smartphone trends, it’s usually with regard to technology. For instance, we may discuss upcoming phones and their new features and capabilities, such as stronger batteries, better cameras, and improved display quality. Or we might talk about the newest accessories for high-end mobile phones, such as accompanying gamepads or lenses for cameras. These kinds of tech advances and devices all affect how we consider smartphones, and ultimately how we use them.

That said, it is also interesting to stop and think every now and then about some potential smartphone trends regarding use and entertainment. Regardless of new technologies and accessories, there are occasional shifts in what people are doing with their phones — or how our smartphones are keeping us entertained. And in this respect, one of the most intriguing trends we’re beginning to see on the horizon is an online poker resurgence via mobile phones.

This trend appears likely for three specific reasons:

1 – Online Poker in Mobile Form

In the past, the concept of online poker related largely to major websites that hosted heads-up matches, tournaments, and more for thousands of players at a time. These sites still exist, and still account for much of the internet-based poker activity we still see internationally. However, the advent of online poker apps has been significant as well. Today, people can open up any of a number of apps (Americas Cardroom, Global Poker, and more) to play versions of the game every bit as professional as those featured at online sites. In short, mobile poker has caught up to the more traditional browser-based alternative.

2 – Improving Legal Situations

The main thing holding mobile poker back over the years has not necessarily been a lack of apps so much as a tricky legal situation. In recent years though, we’ve seen Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Michigan all join Nevada in making it legal to play real poker online. Furthermore, at least six more states are known to be in the process of debating and/or advancing legal poker legislation. There’s more to be done on this front, but as poker is legalized state by state, the apps will only become more popular (possibly by tens of thousands of players at a time).

3 – Proven Revenue Potential

Maybe most important of all is that revenue from online poker in the sites that have legalized it is beginning to be tough to ignore. It’s true that this revenue was significantly boosted by the pandemic, which left more people at home looking for ways to entertain themselves and turning to online poker. However, one could also look at this as at least something of a likely boost to online poker’s general popularity in the U.S. At any rate, the sites and apps make money, which is the strongest incentive for them to be developed and advertised further.

These factors add up to a trend in waiting. With online poker apps becoming more impressive and easier to access, real-money poker being more widely legalized, and the industry revenue encouraging further development, it seems a matter of time before poker is among the trendiest and most active forms of mobile entertainment.