Internet casinos started to operate in the 90s and they quickly became popular for people who didn’t have access to traditional land-based casinos or whose countries banned gambling. In those early years, technology didn’t play such an important role in the iGaming business as there was much less competition and players were happy enough to be able to play online poker or slot games from their sofa.
However, since then things have changed drastically and there is fierce competition in the market now. Casinos compete with each other to provide the best games and the safest and most convenient platforms and technology plays a key part in this. In this article, we are going to dig into these technological advances with the help of Dutch iGaming expert Jered Beugelink.
Live dealer games
Live casino games are strictly speaking not a new technology in online casinos but their availability in several languages is kind of new. Before you could only play live dealer games in English and a couple of major languages, nowadays you can play live blackjack Nederland with a Dutch-speaking dealer.
Mobile gambling
Way more than half of all online gambling is conducted on smartphones. Casinos’ apps are slowly replaced by mobile-optimized games that can be launched through the browser of your smartphone. In fact, many casinos develop new products for mobile users first and they may not even follow up with the web version as nowadays not that many people play from desktop computers.
Virtual reality
Virtual reality has been a thing for a couple of years now, but it has only served a certain niche of players who are into immersive gameplay and own a VR headset. However, now that Meta has announced the creation of Metaverse, VR gets another chance of becoming the next best thing in iGaming. While you can already play slot games and some poker games at VR casinos, playing online poker is expected to shift in this direction. Imagine donning a headset and commanding everything with hand gestures – you can hit or fold with a simple gesture and pick up your chips to place the bet instead of endless clicking or tapping.
Smartwatches
Smartwatches already serve lots of functions – from monitoring your blood pressure to playing music, facilitating contactless card payments, and more. It is no surprise that the gaming and gambling industries also see an opportunity in wearable technology. Looking at your smartwatch that lights up just by rotating your wrist is super-fast and convenient. You can play a slot game for half a minute while you are waiting in line in the supermarket or place an in-play bet while watching that football match on tv or at the stadium. Bookmakers Ladbrokes and Unibet already offer betting apps for Apple watches and so does Playtech. Microgaming is working hard on creating slot titles for smartwatches too.
Blockchain technology
Blockchain technology is one of the most important technological driving forces in online gambling. There are several reasons why some punters prefer to pay via cryptocurrencies at their favorite casino site. The security of financial transactions is a concern for many players as they are afraid of hackers getting to their banking information.
Others simply don’t want payments to casino sites to show on their credit card details. And finally, some countries don’t allow online gambling, and crypto gambling is the only way they can avoid KYC procedures that casinos are obligated to perform if the player deposits through traditional payment methods.
While online casinos with a European gaming license often aren’t able to offer crypto payments by law, financial regulations are slowly changing, and cryptocurrencies are expected to become mainstream in all online casinos in the future.
Conclusion
Technology is driving the online gambling market into further growth. Blockchain technology is the safest way to deposit, and it also gives players anonymity. Mobile gambling is on the rise and wearable technology is also becoming more and more significant every day. Virtual reality is still a niche market but with Metaverse in light, this may change, especially for poker players.