As the online casino market continues to expand, more and more players are choosing to access games via a mobile device. This makes sense; recreational gaming is often a spur-of-the-moment diversion to keep you occupied for a few minutes’ break.
Unless you’re housebound, laptops and desktops can’t deliver the “play anytime” convenience of mobile casinos. If you play via your mobile, you can enjoy real money slots Australia, table games and more whenever the mood takes you: on a bus or a train, or during your lunch break, say.
But should you download a casino app, or do you get the same experience if you access mobile casino sites via your device’s browser? To answer that question, you need to understand the difference between the two.
Apps Come With Benefits
Serious online casino enthusiasts often treat betting like computer gaming, and they develop strong loyalties towards certain operators because they enjoy specific games. Online casinos reward this loyalty with dedicated casino apps, free to download on your mobile device.
You can customise apps to suit personal preferences, giving you instant secure access to your mobile casino with your favourite games at the top of the menu. However, not all online casinos produce a mobile app; they are usually prestige projects created by the bigger operations to build customer loyalty.
Before creating an app, though, mobile casinos will make sure that their online offering plays through any mobile browser too. This is because mobile web browsers are by far the more popular option among players: industry statistics indicate that only around 20% of the market bothers to download mobile casino apps.
Browser Play More Versatile
Browser-based play appears to be more attractive to four out of five players because their visits to online casinos are often spontaneous. They play only occasionally, for recreation rather than always needing to win. For them, the effort of downloading a different app for each casino doesn’t make sense, since browser-based play allows them to switch between mobile casino sites freely.
There is generally no difference between the graphics quality, game speed and game options of mobile apps and browser-based play, so both will deliver the same experience as playing via a desktop or laptop.
Apps are also designed to be device-specific, with different apps required to play on Apple and Android phones, for example. Browser-based games aim for the widest appeal possible, so they are designed from the get-go to play equally well on all browser platforms. This is becoming even more important as mobile casinos switch from delivering gameplay via Flash technology, which requires a plug-in, to HTML5, which doesn’t.
Choosing Your Best Bet
Since mobile casino games play almost identically whether you use an app or a web browser, the choice of which method to use comes down to a question of personal utility. If you play mobile casino games often, you’ll probably enjoy dedicated apps, whether you’re a high-stakes professional gambler or someone who enjoys frequent low-risk betting for fun. Those who only have a flutter occasionally, will get along fine with browser-based mobile casinos.