In recent years we have seen foreign exchange (FX) traders move wholesale onto mobile devices, and so too have a significant segment of the UK’s online betting and gaming industry. In 2013, total consumer expenditure in the UK mobile betting and gaming space exceeded £2.5 billion.

With an annual growth rate of 12 percent the industry could exceed £4.4 billion by 2018, according to a Deloitte report. At the same time, FX trading is changing, moving away from the image of complex, often incomprehensible financial investments. Today’s FX is edging closer to betting and gaming with the rise of new products such as binary options. Naturally, this shifting ground will bring up its own issues and challenges from industry regulation to new competitors.

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The remote betting and gambling industry has already gained some useful insights offering new opportunities. For example, consumers who would never contemplate going to a high street betting shop, bingo hall, casino or arcade will happily play real-money games on a mobile device as a leisure activity. The Deloitte report on remote betting and gambling suggests creating high quality, innovative mobile products while developing strategies to monetize social media presence. This might prove equally good advice for the more visionary FX brokers.