Carried out by independent research agency SKOPOS, the survey included 2,500 mobile gamers in the US, UK, Italy, Spain and Germany.
The results show that 45% of Americans play to beat previous high scores compared to just 17% of Europeans. North American mobile gamers tend to play for longer periods of time - 33% of US mobile gamers play a single game for over 20 minutes compared to 21% of European mobile gamers.
Among US gamers, 8% play 10 or more times a week compared to 3% of European mobile gamers.
Casual games are the most favorable in the US - 22% in the US against 17% in the EU, while action games proved to be popular among the EU - 15% in the EU against 7% in the US.
31% of American mobile gamers liked to show off mobile games to their friends compared to just 13% in Europe.
David Gosen, COO of I-play commented: "The survey results show that US mobile users have really embraced mobile gaming, being more competitive when they play and showing games off to their friends. All inclusive data packages, carrier support and advertising have unquestionably fuelled the growth of mobile gaming in the North American market."