Analyst Juniper Research has released its latest predictions for the mobile gambling market, and they're typically bullish.

The company reckons that by 2013, consumers will be wagering a whopping $27.5 billion on their phones.

It sounds far-fetched, but Juniper says the growth will be spurred by operators feeling more comfortable promoting gambling on-deck, improvements to handset user interfaces, and legislation allowing remote gambling in countries where it's been banned before.

"Operators are demonstrably much more open to the idea of mobile gambling than they were even 12-18 months ago, both in terms of offering gambling services on-portal and accepting advertising from gambling companies," says the report's author Dr Windsor Holden.

The 2013 figure appears to hinge on the US at some point in the next couple of years legalising remote gambling.

Juniper suggests mobile sports betting will take the lion's share of wagers, although mobile lotteries will also grow fast in Latin America and Asia.

However, the company says Western Europe will remain the largest regional mobile gambling market for the coming years, although the UK's current lead may be eroded as its European neighbours launch more services.