Casino gaming continues to spearhead change at an unprecedented rate, but how will this highly innovative part of the casino world continue striving, keeping itself in the limelight and continuing to generate the enormous profits it has posted in recent years?
Well, there are many ways that experts believe online casinos will not only keep themselves relevant but flourish in a world that is becoming increasingly digital. Sure, this sounds exciting, and industry leaders believe there’s plenty of promise, but how does this manifest and what does it look like in reality?
Alternate payment casinos
Alternate payment systems have been one of the most pioneering developments in the world of online casinos in recent memory. Casino bosses, slot game developers and software providers – basically, anyone in the industry has sought the next significant, groundbreaking shift to help their product, brand or platform become market leaders.
The rise of sweepstakes casinos
As the potential for innovation in actual casino games such as blackjack and slots diminishes, alternate payment casinos, such as those that use cryptocurrency or on-site tokens, have become a large part of the casino gaming industry.
Sites that use on-site currencies or gold tokens are known as sweepstakes casinos. While they operate like a traditional provider, and all of their games have an identical feel to those of a standard online casino, their use of on-site currencies means they operate outside traditional barriers that apply to online casinos.
With the rise of legal online sweepstakes, casino gaming customers can access slots, poker and other games without having to deposit real money, and place wagers where traditional currencies are at stake. For those who prefer to sample gaming mechanics and want to reduce some of the risk involved with real-money casinos, sweepstakes are the solution that has struck a chord.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain casinos
Now that Bitcoin and altcoins are becoming some of the most prominent talking points in the financial world, they have cemented their place as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the online casino world.
After surging past $100,000, the price of Bitcoin is something that intrigues financial analysts all over the globe; a number of these experts have spent large parts of the last decade dismissing the asset, especially when compared to more traditional markets such as forex and commodities like oil.
Although cryptocurrency casinos don’t have a big market share at the moment, they will play a role in the future of online casinos, given how popular crypto assets are becoming and how talked about they are on prominent social media sites such as YouTube, Twitch and X.
Are virtual reality casinos on the cards?
VR casinos might seem like something out of a science-fiction movie. While there’s hardly a swell of online support for casinos to adopt this technology en masse, it is an area of gaming technology that is gathering momentum. It’s a little too early to say whether it will have a place in the future of online casinos, but the amount of investment and intrigue from some of the world’s most influential tech companies shows that this particular area could have legs over the next decade.
Meta has invested billions of dollars in VR tech. For a company that has revolutionized every element of our world, from how we share photos and talk to our friends to social media marketing, which has transformed how online casinos operate, we wouldn’t put it past Mark Zuckerberg to spearhead a gaming revolution with VR tech.
The main issue is that a VR gaming revolution might not translate into a VR casino gaming revolution. It’s likely to be more specific to video console games and cheaper headsets, although the technology could play a more significant role in casino gaming development over the next few years. Still, it’s unlikely to have a considerable say in the overall direction of the industry.
Keeping it mobile
Online casinos have acted as the foundation for the incredible rise of mobile app gaming. While many casinos offer a multi-faceted approach, including land-based, desktop and mobile apps, it does look as though the industry’s future is becoming more mobile-driven.
It makes sense, really, as it gives online casino gamers a much broader and more flexible approach to playing casino games. Sure, there’s a time and a place for everything, but moving the online casino from a PC or desktop, allowing gamers to download apps associated with the casino and facilitating ways for them to play on the move is looking increasingly likely to be the future of iGaming.
More casinos are incentivizing app downloads by offering promotions and bonuses specific to mobile gaming. While there will always be a market for desktop casinos, the incredible developments in the mobile gaming world since the early 2010s have put this gaming method in the driving seat.
Over the next decade, it should solidify itself as the top method for casino gamers. Unless VR can make a serious dent in the market, it’s hard to see how mobile casinos won’t take the lead and shape the industry’s future.
Final thoughts
It’s challenging to accurately predict how a multibillion-dollar industry that will one day be a trillion-dollar industry will look a decade from now. At the moment, the industry is moving so quickly that it’s difficult to consider how it might look after 18 months, never mind in 2035.
Of all the observations we’ve made today, and based on what the experts and analysts think, it’s likely that the online casino industry will move into more technologically driven areas – this includes VR, further implementation of AI in gaming, and, of course, mobile apps taking the driving seat.
Technology will continue bringing more people into the world of online casino gaming, and although there will still be a market for land-based providers and desktop sites, mobile apps crystallizing their presence at the top of the industry is the most likely outcome of all we have discussed today.
