Boosted by the unceasing pandemic, the online gambling industry is just unstoppable: valued at about $78 billion, it is projected to grow to at least $100 billion in the next couple of years and double by the middle of the decade. The number of active gamblers is growing as well: around 4.2 billion people indulge in games of chance occasionally, of which about 25% consider themselves casino regulars.
But not only is COVID-19 responsible for the boom of online gambling – the technological advancement itself is doing a tremendous job as well. With more and more brick-and-mortar casino fans looking for digital avenues of entertainment, online casinos are forced to accelerate the implementation of new technologies, such as live dealers, virtual reality, cryptocurrencies, provable fairness, and the Internet of Behavior.
Haven’t heard of any of them yet? Well, it’s high time to fill that gap. We’ve linked up with Anna Rosak, a gambling expert from KasynoHEX, who shed light on the best tech the gambling world can offer in the last quarter of 2021. Without any further ado, let’s dig into it!
Live Dealer Games
According to various estimates, there are up to 150 various live dealer games offered by about 50 software providers at about 250 online casinos, both renowned venues like polskie kasyno Blik and aspiring ones. But wait, what’s a live dealer game in the first place?
A live dealer game is a game hosted by a real dealer, streamed from a brick-and-mortar casino or a studio. Live dealer games are not new – the first attempts were made back in 2004 – but it’s for the first time that they’ve learned to masterfully imitate the real-life vibe of land-based venues.
With the help of live chats, high-quality cameras, and knowledgeable dealers, live dealer games are closing the gap between online and in-person gambling, and you can take advantage of that, too, in multiple live casinos scattered on the web.
Virtual Reality Games
The first attempts to make VR games are dated back to the turn of the century, but then neither the technological capabilities nor the knowledge itself was on the level that would allow a viable product. Remember Virtual Boy, a 32-bit tabletop portable video game console, or Forte VFX1, a head-mounted display? Well, it doesn’t matter, because the times have changed, and now we have access to all kinds of quality headsets, from Oculus Rift to Sony PlayStation VR to HTC Vive Pro 2.
However, VR gaming is developing much faster than VR gambling: there aren’t too many VR casinos to play – maybe a dozen or so. What’s more, not only do you need a VR headset, but also a high-power computer and maybe a data glove. On the bright side, VR casino games are a brand-new experience that guarantees an unprecedented level of engagement and a flurry of emotions.
Cryptocurrency Casinos
With Bitcoin breaking its all-time high and Dogecoin trading at unimaginable 30 cents, cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm and are now transforming online gambling into a new single global peer-to-peer platform for gambling. In a nutshell, cryptocurrency casinos allow to:
- Cut fees by eliminating a third-party payment provider.
- Circumvent bans and restrictions on online gambling.
It goes without saying that there are bazillions of nuances regarding both crypto and its implementation in gambling, but there’s no doubt the trend of crypto gambling will hugely impact the industry in the years to come.
Provably Fair Casinos
Speaking of the capabilities of blockchain, it gave birth to a totally new concept in gambling: provably fairness. A provably fair casino records the player’s gambling history in a blockchain and then allows him to verify it. Here’s how it works:
- The casino generates a unique Server Seed; the player generates a unique User Seed.
- Seeds are combined into a unique Seed Pair used to generate the gambling outcomes for the players.
- At the end of the sessions or once the player decides to change the Seed Pair, the casino decrypts the previously used Server Seed so that the player could make sure the process wasn’t rigged.
As simple as that! From now on, you can mathematically exclude the possibility of fraud.
Internet of Behavior
You must have heard about the Internet of Things, but chances are not the Internet of Behavior. Well, it has to do with big data and the analysis of the data gathered through individual online activities, wearable technologies, household smart devices, and more. Online casinos simply want to know your preferences and patterns of behavior so that they could offer you everything you’d like to see and play. That may sound a little scary in the world of ever-increasing online privacy concerns, but we’ll all have to deal with it, adapting to the new realities where nothing can be hidden from the prying eyes of smart technologies.