The iPhone 5 was released this week to much fanfare.  The latest smartphone from Apple comes with a larger screen, a thinner frame and a processor that is twice as fast as last years iPhone 4S.  Despite all these impressive new features, the greatest change to the iPhone has nothing to do with the phones hardware.  For many people the ability to download native casino apps from the Apple App Store is the greatest improvement to the world’s favourite smartphone.

When the iPhone was launched 6 years ago, Steve Jobs was pretty adamant that gambling, controversial or pornographic applications would never be allowed into Apple’s sacred app store.

Although Apple have stuck to their guns in relation to pornographic apps, they have begun to allow a small number of blackjack, slots, bingo, poker and roulette apps into the App Store.

The real-money casino app to feature in the App Store is called Big Fish Casino.  Big Fish currently only have a gambling license in the United Kingdom so the app will initially only be available to download from the UK app store, although they are currently in the process of applying for gambling licenses in other jurisdictions.

The new Big Fish Casino app for the iPhone will be free to download and will feature a wide variety of real-money games, including blackjack, slots, texas hold’em, roulette and video poker.  An iPad version is also currently in development.

With the mobile gambling industry expected to be worth $50 billion in 3 years, a number of other large gaming and sports betting organisations are currently developing iPhone compatible casino apps that support real wagers.  At the moment the United Kingdom is a testing ground for many mobile casinos because of their progressive online gambling laws.  In the United States, where online gambling is prohibited, a number of states such as New Jersey and California are considering legalising mobile casinos for iOS and Android phones and tablets in a bid to raise additional taxes to help their struggling economies.

With the mobile casino market growing so rapidly there is a desperate scramble on to get real money blackjack, poker, slots and roulette apps into the Apple App Store.  Paddy Power, William Hill, Bwin, Bet365 and Ladbrokes are all currently working on their own casino games for iOS devices.