If you have about gambling the classic image of a casino, full of people, who wants to place their bets, maybe you may want to think again.

According to an Informa Telecoms & Media report, cited by Digital-Lifestyles.info , the market for mobile gambling content is going to soar from US$1.2bn of annual revenues in 2005 to US$7.6bn by 2010, with more than 200 million consumers gambling the odds using mobile devices.

"Mobile gambling is already generating significant revenues, but there is room for sharp growth in the years ahead," says Stuart Dredge, the report's author.

"Operators recognize that there is a strong demand for mobile gambling services, and there is no shortage of companies looking to provide them. However, the industry must keep in mind its responsibilities to tackle underage and problem gambling."

The report looked at the three key types of mobile gambling - sports betting, lotteries and casino-gaming - and predicted that lotteries are going to be the number one form of mobile gambling in the next five years, spurred on by widespread handset support.

The report sees Europe remaining the largest market for mobile gambling, generating a hefty US$3.2bn of annual revenues by 2010.

According to a previous report, the analysts of Jupiter Research consider, also, that the new name of the game is lotteries, which will generate the most important growth of revenues, until 2010.

Jupiter Research considers that a cause for this it may be the fact that lotteries are more acceptable to the laws than casinos or sport betting. But also if the laws on gambling will be changed in China or U.S. those values are likely to change.