The online gambling industry over the last decade has grown into its very own phenomenon. Long gone are the days when you’d have to spend time traveling to traditional brick-and-mortar casinos, as technology has ensured that placing a bet can be done at the touch of a fingertip. Innovative technology has grown leaps and bounds over the years, and this has affected the casino industry as a whole. As of 2021, the overall casino and gambling market was valued at $231 billion, whereas the market size for the online gambling industry worldwide is $70.64 billion. Though it’s not quite up to par with the physical entities, this is still a humongous step for technology, as it is expected that online gambling is going to grow at a compound annual rate of 11.7% year-on-year – whereas the physical casinos are dropping at a rate of 4.5% year on year.
There are many reasons why people would choose to go online, instead of making the journey in reality, therefore this article delves into the various elements in technology that have gotten this world where it is today.
- Improved Game Developers
The first online casino company launched its site in 1994, and since then, there’s been exponential growth. When games first came out, they were low resolution, but technological advancements mean that immersive experiences and sounds are now enjoyed by players on the web. High-quality visuals are nothing new in today’s world, but in the past, online gamblers would have to deal with glitches, and pixels not focusing. The overall display has been taken up a notch, tenfold, as multiplayer games are available, meaning you can now play against friends, family, and anyone across the internet who enjoys having fun on online casino. By the early 2000s, multiplayer games were already in fruition, which is what gave a realistic experience to people who are used to betting in a physical casino.
The most popular online game that mimics the feeling of being with an actual person is the technology-based online poker tables, which have opened up words of chat rooms, and virtual arenas for betting. Unlike in traditional brick-and-mortar games, you can now also personalize your tables, your cards, and even down to the way your decks are dealt with – technology has made the possibilities endless in online gambling.
2) Live Dealer Games
It takes developers many years to create games that are adapted to online casinos, but when it comes to live dealer games, that’s another story. Live Dealer Games are successful in today’s world, as the evolution of mobile phones has made it accessible to access the internet from wherever you are in the world. There is a new drive for interaction and connection, paired with high-speed internet that has created a love for betting online, that is incomparable to anything people have experienced before. Virtual Reality headsets, Augmented reality, and many other technological advances mean that you as a player can enter a virtual casino and be a part of a personalized casino experience – with real-life players!
Tech has moved so far down the line that not only communicating with the players is an option, but you too can ask the live dealer any questions that you may have. The social, immersive feeling that was often missing when online gambling came about, is now at the very core of what it is today.
3) Mobile Gambling
When online casinos first came about in the late 90s, there was no such thing as mobile online gambling. You would have to dial in with your local PC and play on a very low-res gambling experience. When mobile gaming came into play, it wasn’t as trusted as the PC, as people were concerned about their privacy and data being shared. Technological advances of today mean that developers have created all games to be able to run on HTML5, which is the ability to play on every mobile device, for streamlining gaming. Technology will always be evolving to protect you and your phone on all occasions. By this we mean, by incorporating the random number generator (RNG), it ensures that every game involving numbers is completely random. This tech piece now stops all the online casinos from altering any numbers and forging wins for themselves – so the odds of you winning a bet are the same as being at the physical casino.
Along with mobiles improving, there is also blockchain technology, which is the act of tracing every transaction that you place. This is to prevent things such as fraud and data theft, which online trojans are always trying to obtain. Because of these attacks, technological moves like Crypto Casinos are now available, which is the ability to win and spend money, without having to use your bank card – it’s all a virtual world.
From firewalls to blockchain, to developing new games or protecting you against cyber-attacks, there is plenty in the background going on with all the big online casinos. Their main priority is to ensure your safety online whilst you play their plethora of games that are constantly evolving every day. If this is where the world of tech is right now, we can’t wait to see where it will be in ten years!