The internet was technically got birthed in 1983, but the World Wide Web became a thing in 1993 when Tim Berners-Lee, a renowned computer scientist, released the source code for the world’s initial web browser. Three years after this event, real money online slot platforms began popping up, with the first merging game software from Isle of Man’s Microgaming and payment technology for Toronto-based WagerLogic.
SkyQuest Technology Consulting
Over the past two and a half decades, the online gambling sphere has swelled tremendously yearly, with the past few, especially, notching exceptional growth. SkyQuest Technology Consulting, an international market research firm focusing on innovation management, predicts the global gambling industry will reach annual revenues of $153 billion in the next six years, an increase of $80 billion from the 2021 figure. The Gujarat-based company credits the rise of social media and the proliferation of mobile devices for this sector expanding two-fold by 2028.
However, while undoubtedly online gambling is rapidly expanding as a popular pastime in most corners of the globe, with casino slot games online dominating this industry, innovation-wise, it is not moving forward as expected.
Per a statement made at a panel during the 2020 CasinoBeats Malta Digital summit by Kindred’s head of gaming, which owns Unibet and 32-Red, Cristian Blanco, “the industry needs a wake-up call to raise the bar of innovation.”
That is a sentiment shared by many. Despite skyrocketing revenues, virtually all casino sites seem to offer identical services. As Blanco has mentioned, on several occasions, “raising the number of pay lines to twenty-three in contrast to twenty is not innovation.”
Market oversaturation is real, and failure to evolve may lead to a drop in interest in online gambling. Attention spans are now shorter than ever, and younger demographics crave far more interaction than individuals in their forties or above. That implies that the sector needs to begin spearheading new growth directions.
VR Gambling Never Took Off
Simulated real-world experiences with the help of technology is a concept that has been around since the early 1860s. Commercially available devices like the ones used in modern gaming consoles today first hit the markets in 1995 when Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, a 32-bit tabletop portable console featuring a head-mounted display.
After these headsets failed to make an impact in the 1990s, they again reemerged in the mainstream at the start of the 2010s, with the Oculus Rift making significant waves in 2016, announcing a potential VR revolution.
That same year, Microgaming, the gambling software trailblazer, presented a version of a VR roulette product that never came to fruition. In 2019, UK gaming giant Playtech unleashed a VR version of their Hot Gems casino slot that made absolutely no impact and never got wide distribution. Multiple other VR attempts have gotten made over time to bring VR and AR tech into the gambling sector, with little to no success.
Many predicted that poker would have more luck accomplishing this feat. Unfortunately, that also proved incorrect. Various VR for-fun poker games are available, supplying multiplayer card action with fun credits, such as PokerStars VR, published by the StarsGroup, and Poker VR by Mega Particle. Though, still, no such VR software can get found offering VR tournaments and cash games.
Few New Gaming Genres Have Appeared
Those in the interactive gaming loop know that the best real money online slots are responsible for 60% to 80% of all online gambling revenues. Reel-spinning products were the first gambling options at casino hubs, and along with random number generator-powered table games, they ruled this landscape for a decade and a half. In the 2010s, live dealer games started to pick up steam as internet speeds improved globally.
Playtech pioneered streaming tables in 2003. Yet, this genre these days gets dominated by Sweden’s Evolution, a company that has grown into the most powerful brand this industry has ever seen. To illustrate its breadth, illegal gaming accusations against it in the US in November 2021 caused Evolution AB to lose $3 billion in market value.
Aside from these three gaming genres, slots, RNG table/lottery games, and streaming tables, only fish table games online have emerged as a novel category and little else. Rumbling regarding skill-based products getting introduced has amounted to nothing, and regulatory issues are unlikely to make such games appear on the Web for real money play.
User Interaction Is Not Developing
One of the downsides of online casinos is that they lack the socialization aspect that brick-and-mortar locales have. Despite promises that these platforms will evolve to deliver a more interactive user experience, that has not happened except at some crypto casinos.
Amusnet Interactive’s CEO, Ivo Georgiev, claims that with regulations in new markets changing rapidly, Amusent and others are continuously investigating how to bring gambler interaction to a higher level and expect innovation soon. This article was written in collaboration with real money casino experts.
