Liftoff, the leading provider of marketing, monetization, and creative solutions for the mobile industry, and Singular, the end-to-end marketing attribution and analytics platform, today released their 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report. The report, based on combined Liftoff and Singular data from February 2024 to February 2025, which includes 1.4 trillion ad impressions, 63 billion clicks, 2.5 billion installs, and $11.9 billion in ad spend, reveals that utility and entertainment apps drive the majority of non-gaming app installs for casual games.

Ads in utility and productivity apps account for 28% of non-gaming app installs for casual games, while 25% come from entertainment apps. Photo and social media apps also play an important role in converting users to casual gaming, accounting for a combined 25%.

Liftoff and Singular’s Casual Gaming Apps Report covers three main topics: an annual breakdown of benchmarks for advertising costs and revenue, the mobile game genres and subgenres driving the most installs, and the latest trends shaking up the casual gaming market.

Key findings from the report include:

Utility apps drive the most installs as advertisers look outside of gaming audiences

As the consumer app market share grows, more downloads come from outside the mobile game ecosystem, with utility apps being the main driver. In the sample, over half of the casual game installs from non-gaming apps are from utility and productivity apps (28%) and entertainment apps (25%). Photo apps and social media apps are similarly impactful, driving a combined 25% of installs from non-gaming apps, while health and fitness apps contribute the least at just 4%.

Hypercasual and hybrid puzzles revenue grows 240%

Following the success of apps like Twisted Tangle, Hexa Sort, and Block Jam 3D, games with simple yet addictive puzzle mechanics have captured the attention of casual game audiences. GameRefinery data reveals a huge increase in the US market share of these games within the top 500 grossing iOS titles, with market share surging collectively from $4.12 million in Q4 2023 to $13.99 million by Q4 2024. 

Mobile game CPIs are 907% higher on iOS

From February 2024 to February 2025, the average cost per install (CPI) for casual games was $1.41 on iOS and $0.14 on Android. In contrast, strategy, RPG, and tabletop games exhibited a higher CPI on both platforms, likely due to their niche audiences. While CPI is lower on Android, iOS still delivers more than 2x D30 ROAS on most game genres.

Minigame events are on the rise in top-grossing titles

Events are an essential element of strategy for casual gaming apps, and nearly all event types saw higher adoption rates in 2024. Minigame events, in particular, continued to grow between Q1 and Q4 2024, increasing by 31%. ‘Thinking’ minigames that feature varied mechanics saw the highest adoption rates. The minigames gaining the most popularity include digging, physics-based, and board game-inspired minigames. Other growing trends include co-op partner missions, seasonal albums, and win-streak events.

Match 3 games are making a comeback

After a long period of market saturation dominated by existing giants in the genre, Match 3 games are showing signs of a revival. New releases like Royal Kingdom and Truck Star have consistently ranked among the category’s highest-grossing games in 2024.

“As always, mobile games advertising is the most competitive marketing challenge on the planet. CTR for casual games is significantly higher than most genres, which is a big positive: you get a chance to make your case. What you do with that opportunity, of course, is up to you.” John Koetsier, VP of Insights, Singular 

“Casual gaming is a competitive market, but there’s plenty of growth potential for games willing to experiment and innovate. We’ve seen top games, including new releases and seasoned winners, rapidly scale their revenue by investing more in their live event strategies and monetization models. Finding what works is a process of trial and error, but having a partner with the newest insights into revenue drivers can make a huge difference.” Brendan Fraher, General Manager, GameRefinery

BETBY, the premium sportsbook supplier, has expanded its proprietary esports feed, BETBY Games, with the launch of two new e-sims inspired by some of the most popular titles in global gaming: FIFA’s Penalty Shootout and Mortal Kombat 11. With these additions, the BETBY Games portfolio now includes 16 titles, offering expanded betting opportunities for operators and players.

The latest releases further reinforce BETBY’s two core esports verticals — eSoccer and eFighting — and reflect the company’s ongoing commitment to delivering diverse and engaging betting content. The football-themed title introduces fast-paced gameplay, with each match lasting less than 3 minutes, and includes three leagues based on the World Cup, Spanish La Liga, and Brazilian Série A. Featuring over 15 betting markets in a classic format of 5 shots for each team, this addition brings 30,000 matches per month to the BETBY Games feed, all designed to run with low margins and high engagement.

The second release draws from the iconic world of arcade-style fighting games, offering dynamic player-versus-player action in a Best-of-3 (BO3) format with each match also taking less than 3 minutes. Featuring more than 15 markets and three ongoing tournaments — Elements and Forces, Power and Royalty, and Technology and Chaos — this title equals the football counterpart delivering another 30,000 monthly matches to the platform.

With these new launches, BETBY Games now boasts 70+ tournaments, 350+ betting markets, and supports over 300,000 live matches every month, cementing its position as one of the most comprehensive and high-frequency esports betting solutions in the industry.

Kirill Nekrasov, Head of Sportsbook Product at BETBY, commented: “The launch of these new titles showcases our commitment to evolving the BETBY Games offering and delivering esports content that resonates with players worldwide. By drawing inspiration from globally recognized franchises, we create products that are both familiar and optimized for high-frequency betting environments. This approach enables operators to expand their portfolios and gives players even more excitement and engagement.”

This launch follows the recent success of BETBY Games, which was awarded Best Esports Product 2025 at the SiGMA Americas Awards. This achievement underscores BETBY’s strategic focus on redefining the esports betting experience through unmatched flexibility, deep customization, and exceptional engagement for both operators and players.

Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, is giving players more ways to win outside of the main National Lottery games and draws – with new and varied promotions driving further value and excitement.

So far in 2024, Allwyn launched a EuroMillions Valentine’s Day campaign, which, in addition to making 14 UK Millionaires also saw 14 lucky ticket-holders win a trip for two to the Maldives.

This was supported by a tongue-in-cheek, multi-channel campaign – which featured tie-ups with TikTok travel influencers – that brought to life how National Lottery players could seriously upgrade their Valentine’s Day if they scooped one of the amazing prizes on offer. This special event attracted 400,000 more digital players compared to the previous comparable draw.

And, in a first for The National Lottery, the company is currently running a weekly special £10k prize draw. Running over nine weeks, players are entered into the weekly draw by spending £10 or more on National Lottery draw-based games (such as Lotto, EuroMillions, Set For Life and Thunderball) online in the week (between Monday and Sunday).

The £10 spend takes into account people who play by draw-based games by Direct Debit and play in advance for future draws – so the spend doesn’t necessarily have to be for draws in the week itself, as it’s calculated by when the transaction is processed.

And the excitement doesn’t stop there, as the special £15 million “Must Be Won” Big Easter Bank Holiday Lotto Jackpot on April 19 (Saturday) saw three new millionaires created, after three lucky ticket-holders matched five main numbers and the Bonus Ball to win £1.06 million each. As no-one matched all six main numbers, the jackpot rolled down – boosting all prize tiers.

Allwyn’s Marketing & Brand Director, Steve Parkinson, said: “Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been looking at some fun and unique ways to attract new National Lottery players and re-engage former ones. These are delivering further value for players – giving them more to play for – and are creating talkability. Of course, by playing National Lottery games, players raise more than £30 million every week for Good Causes – so this really is a win-win.”