Online Casinos: How Tech Disrupted An Old-School Industry
For almost a century now, casinos have played an outsize role within the global entertainment industry. For many of us, the word “casino” conjures up images of plush Las Vegas resorts and swish blackjack dealers dishing out chips to well-heeled patrons. While the so-called “land-based” casino industry is still a major industry, one of the major developments over the past decade has been the astonishing growth of digital casinos, which now comprise an industry that is set to be worth a staggering $127 billion within five years. But what has fueled such breakneck growth over such a short period of time? The answer lies with a handful of innovators who have embraced emerging tech trends to create entirely new and novel real money gaming experiences for global audiences. Let’s take a closer look at exactly how tech has disrupted the old-school casino industry to create a high-growth, innovation-fueled market.
Innovation
One of the major drivers of the growth of iGaming platforms has been the willingness of the industry to adopt new technologies ahead of the curve. This is evident when looking at some of the most competitive gambling platforms available today. For example, leading casino website 888 has been ahead of the curve in its offering of live casino games, wherein players can connect to real-life card dealers via a live video uplink to enjoy an immersive Las Vegas experience from the comfort of their homes. One of the most popular live casino games today is online blackjack, where any player with an internet connection can enter a “live lounge” and play titles like Pearl Blackjack and American Blackjack with a qualified dealer. Once they enter the lounge, they can use the on-screen interface to instruct the dealer to hit or stick, while also making bets and collecting winnings.
We are already beginning to see the beginnings of a livestream gaming revolution across other sectors, such as video gaming. However, it is the casino industry that has been the earliest and most enthusiastic adopter of this technology. This same tendency can be seen in other popular online casino games. For example, many casinos offer live games that can be made even more immersive through the use of a VR headset. This allows players to truly feel like they are on the gaming floor of a luxury Las Vegas casino, without ever having to get up off the couch. Taking things even further, some casinos are experimenting with augmented reality, or AR gaming, which blends livestreaming with in-game digital assets for a hybrid experience that feels more immersive than ever. As we enter the Metaverse era, in which VR and AR gaming look set to enter the mainstream for the first time, it will be interesting to see whether the online casino sector will benefit from its early dominance in these sectors.
Choice
One of the overarching trends within digital entertainment this decade has been the staggering array of choices offered to users. We see this with streaming platforms such as Netflix and Hulu, which have expanded their offerings to the extent that hundreds of new TV shows and films are being uploaded every month. We also see this in video gaming, where the likes of Xbox and PlayStation have recalibrated their business models so that users can pay a flat fee to access hundreds of games at one time, instead of paying for each individual title. This same commitment to more choice has been the driving ethos of leading online gambling platforms for years now. Most casinos will extensively market the range of game options available to consumers, to the point where it is not uncommon for a casino to advertise the fact that it has literally thousands of online slots available in one single game library, that any customer with an account can play without limits.
Online casinos clocked on earlier than most to the fact that most players no longer want to commit to one game at a time. Instead, players want the freedom to jump between as many games as they like, without having to pay individually for access to each. It’s not just slot games, either. Most leading online casinos now offer hundreds of different table games and live games, buttressing their selection with niche variants such as Lightning Blackjack or 10 cent roulette, in order to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. On top of this, the most competitive casinos will also offer additional digital gambling experiences such as scratchcards, live game shows, lottery games, virtual sports, and bingo. In the new digital economy, the more the merrier.
Accessibility
The digital entertainment industry has finally started to realize that the key to success is making your products as accessible as possible to a broad range of people. What is interesting is how many casinos realized this much earlier, to the extent that their entire business models were built around maximizing accessibility so that no potential player felt excluded. This is most visible when you examine the digital architecture of leading casinos. Most will offer as broad a range of digital payment options as possible, including mobile-friendly platforms such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Venmo. In addition to this, an increasing number of casinos now allow users to make bets and withdraw winnings via popular cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum, so that the crypto adopters can feel included.
We have also seen how casinos have been quick to adopt cross-platform play so that users can enjoy their favorite real money games on whichever device they prefer. Nowadays, the top casinos will offer the full platform experience on tablets, desktops, mobile, and even smart TVs. On top of this, some casinos also allow seamless switching between devices, meaning that a player could switch their online poker game from their phone to their tablet without experiencing any interruption to their gaming session. Given that the likes of Apple, Sony and Microsoft are only just beginning to explore crossplay technology, it’s clear that the casino industry was several steps ahead with this one.
The casino industry is one of the oldest entertainment industries in the world. Despite this, it has been quick to embrace new technology in order to survive and thrive. If you want insights into the future of entertainment, check to see what online casinos are doing.
