2020: The year of the online casino
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The gambling industry is a financial behemoth expected to post AN annual revenue of US$159.3 billion at the end of the year. To outsiders, it is easy to think of the glitz and glamour of classic Las Vegas casinos as the epitome of gambling.
However, much of the success of the industry as a whole in recent times has come from the phenomenal appeal of online casinos. In this article, we will look at the reasons why online casinos are booming and speculate on the future of the industry.
Why Online Casinos?
The primary question that many people outside of the gambling industry tend to ask is: why use an online casino rather than a traditional, land-based casino? For most players, the answer is ease and accessibility.
Traveling to a purpose-built casino is often a pre-planned event that many gamblers partake in only a couple of times a year. Whereas an online casino is available to use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can be accessed from a PC, a laptop, or a smartphone.
Online casinos cater to experienced gamblers who want to feel the thrill of high-level competition and casual players who want to relax and unwind without the pressure of having to dress up and plan ahead.
Ease and accessibility are certainly factors in the popularity of online casinos, but they have so much more to offer that makes them appealing to players…
Variety
Slot machines are by far the most popular gambling game either online or in land-based casinos, accounting for the lion’s share of total gambling revenues. Traditionally, casino developers have set their sights on super venues to house as many slot machine terminals as possible.
However, in comparison to their online rivals, land-based casinos are always limited by size and space. Whilst you may be able to play hundreds of great slots at Casino de Montreal you can access thousands more with a couple of taps on your smartphone.
The best online casino tends to offer its players a huge variety of games to make the online casino experience more entertaining. The sites usually have a range of different classic casino games such as slots, roulette, blackjack so players can find exactly which game they are wanting to play all in one site!
Slot machines are the main profit drivers for every casino and unfortunately for land-based casinos, their online competitors can offer 10x as many slots to their customers.
Quality
In the first half of the 2010s, the technology behind online and mobile casinos was lackluster, to say the least. Players were often forced to access games via their phone’s browser leading to a clunky and glitch-laden gaming experience.
However, in recent years online casinos have upped their game when it comes to technology and has transformed their offerings beyond recognition. Most online casinos in Canada now have the same processing power and graphics as AAA mobile gaming titles.
In addition to this smartphone technology has improved immeasurably in recent years. The iPhone 12 for example which is due for release later this month has a higher Frames Per Second (FPS) rate than the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.
Competition
When online gambling first burst on to the scene two decades ago, poker was the only game catered for by the internet. As a result of this online poker has a bigger pool of players than any other online gambling game which has led to a healthy competition base.
In the early days of online poker, a number of companies sought to form commercial partnerships with the world’s biggest real-life poker tournaments. One company that has excelled in this area is 888 Poker.
The company now has a WSOP satellite event that grants the winner access to the WSOP Main Event. But it’s not just 888 that offers great competition to players, almost every online casino has a thriving community of players of all skill levels to test your abilities against.
The Future of Online Casinos
As an industry, online gambling has always been at the forefront of technological advancement and innovation. Despite outperforming the land-based Canadian gambling industry in recent years, Canadian online casinos are showing no signs of resting on their laurels.
The latest innovation to online casinos is live streaming croupiers and dealers that help to make players feel as though they are betting at a land-based venue. In the next couple of years, these so-called ‘live casinos’ are expected to rise in prominence.
The next big technological advancement though looks set to be augmented or virtual reality casinos. Some of the biggest names in the world have already invested heavily in research and development in the AR/VR scene.
If this technology can be implemented well by online casinos expect to see the gap between the online and land-based sectors widen further over the course of the next decade.
