The online casino industry is one of the most innovative industries in the world. This, in part, is due to the extreme competitiveness of the sector, with lots of betting companies all vying for the interest of players.
It’s not surprising then that the online casino market always has one eye on the future and experiments with technologies and innovations to tease new players.
In this guide, we’ll explore the future of the online casino market. We’ll take a look at what technologies and innovations have been adopted so far and look ahead to see how they could develop in the years to come.
In particular, we’ll look at the adoption of cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and a greater selection of live table games.
First, let’s take a look at something that has grabbed the imaginations of many players around the world, virtual reality.
Embracing Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a relatively new technology that was launched into the public eye when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spectacularly announced that the platform was shifting its focus toward VR. The Metaverse, as it’s known, is intended to be a virtual space for people to not only socialize in, but to work and play games in, too.
Unsurprisingly, that caught the attention of betting companies, who have begun exploring ways of using VR to make their games more immersive.
At present, a few online casinos offer VR slot machine games, with Jack’s World being one of the latest to hit the market—an adaptation of an already popular slot machine game called Jack and the Beanstalk. It’s also possible to play VR roulette and blackjack, too.
These games are widely available across the world now. For example, you could play online pokies in NZ or Australia (with pokies being the slang name for slot machine games).
How far VR goes in the betting world depends upon factors beyond its control. The main sticking point is whether more people start using it. At present, VR technology isn’t accessible to many people. The devices are expensive to buy and are only compatible with certain mobile phones or computers.
However, as those costs come down and technology improves, it should become more widely used and could be the trigger for online casinos to roll out more VR games.
Wider Adoption of Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies have now become something of a mainstay in the world of currencies. Millions of people trade with them, and this has led to some people only using crypto to pay their way through life.
That’s encouraged some online casinos to adopt it as an accepted form of currency, and even some casinos to embrace it as their sole payment method.
There are various reasons why online casinos have embraced cryptocurrencies and why people are looking to use them more and more for betting.
A big perk to using cryptocurrencies for betting is to help maintain your privacy. With crypto, identities remain concealed, and transactions are secured by blockchain technology. This veil of anonymity empowers individuals to play games, even within nations that have banned gambling.
This is something traditional online casinos can’t offer, with the need to submit the likes of identifying documents like passports or driving licenses and other forms of personal data.
Another perk of betting companies adopting blockchain technology is that it allows for almost immediate payouts.
With traditional casinos, you may have to wait a few working days to receive your money in your bank account. However, with cryptocurrency, players can often see their funds transferred instantly to their crypto wallet.
As more and more people embrace crypto as a primary form of currency, it makes sense for the betting world to respond in kind. And it also opens up the market to players who would otherwise be unable to play in their home country.
Integrating Artificial Intelligence
One phenomenon that has swept the globe in the past 12 months is artificial intelligence (AI).
AI now has a multitude of uses, from creating written and visual content to detecting fraud and analyzing massive amounts of data.
In the world of online casinos, it’s been adopted for a multitude of reasons. One of these reasons is to tackle fraud in the industry. With so much money available, it’s unsurprising that fraudulent activity does take place in the world of online betting, such as using probability software or bots.
However, monitoring potential instances of fraud has been made easier thanks to AI. With its ability to scour vast amounts of information in real time, it can flag any suspected fraud and impose the likes of account blocks, which betting companies can then look into in more detail.
AI has also been adopted to boost customer service within the industry. Online casinos are open 24 hours a day. Employing a full-time customer service team to handle this around the clock could be tough and expensive for some firms.
They can tackle those issues by adopting AI chatbots. This can then help filter out queries, leaving the more pressing ones to humans.
Expansion of Live Table Games
The biggest challenge faced by the online casino world is making the experience just as immersive and enjoyable as brick-and-mortar casinos.
To address this, many betting companies have introduced live table games. The premise is simple, players can watch a live stream of a real-life casino game and bet in time with other players sitting around that table.
It’s commonly used in the likes of roulette, bingo, and blackjack, but there are opportunities to extend this to other games. Poker is one game that’s recently been added to the live table roster.
As technology advances, particularly with VR, it’s possible that online casinos could offer an even more immersive experience in the near future.
Adding more social aspects to the game, like chatting with other players or building up a list of friends to play with, could all be positive additions to the user experience down the line.
