It was a trend that existed before COVID-19, but the pandemic has certainly sped it up. The online casino industry is becoming its own beast and is quickly overtaking physical casinos. The reason for this is obvious: lockdown measures have prevented the public from attending physical casinos, and we’re looking for ways to fill this social craving.
This is where online casinos have really stepped up. For several years now, online gaming has become increasingly social. It started with in-chat messaging at poker tables, but now there are live videos of dealers whom you can interact with, as well as the gamification of getting high scores.
The gamification of online casino games is something that has really captured the imagination of gamers. Slot machines are no longer spin-and-wait. They’re starting to resemble genuine video games. There are characters, storylines, themes, along with levels, social competitiveness, and varying difficulties.
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This is something that they have over traditional casinos. It’s very difficult to innovate and gamify physical games, but online games have so much room for development. There’s a large pool of game developers and an appetite to merge casino games with video games.
Customers have been responding well to this development long before the pandemic. It’s likely because there is something for everyone. For example, there may be well over 100 online games divided into different themes and categories of the game. There are options for real-time dealer games, along with a huge amount of slots.
Further, there seems to be a lot more capacity for promotions too. Sign-up bonuses, for example, as well as monthly free spins, are something more easily distributed to online users than in traditional casinos.
The Future Of Online Casinos
Online casinos have a long way to go, too. They are able to synergize with other tech developments, such as Virtual Reality. Casino games becoming VR compatible is a huge threat to traditional casinos because you’re close to resembling that unmatched atmosphere of live tables with a bustling atmosphere. Of course, not all traditional casinos are going to sit and watch the online industry overtake; some are looking to join in and develop their own online platforms.
It’s just that this switch in focus is a big infrastructure change, and if they become dependent on the online revenue, it may be difficult to switch back after the pandemic. This is the true threat to traditional casinos, the one they pose to themselves.
They must adapt to the current times, and perhaps we may see a hybrid where online and VR games become more available inside the physical casinos. The future of online casinos also lays with cryptocurrency too. It’s not just a greater choice of games, but also a greater choice of currencies when online.
Many smaller online casinos are open to accepting Bitcoin and several other coins as a means to deposit and withdraw. Generally, this speeds up the process and reduces friction. Further, it means there’s now a way to game online anonymously, as you don’t need to verify your identity using a debit/credit card.
If you are interested in even more entertainment-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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