With such a rapidly evolving industry as gambling, major brands have to have their fingers on the pulse to be able to react to any news instantly. Trends in the world of online gambling technologies tend to change with the speed of light, and delayed reaction might easily cost millions of dollars. The first online casinos got way more profits than the ones that came months after, and the same thing goes with everything else. If you want to be on top of the wave and be aware of the latest online gambling trends – keep reading!
It’s essential to know the trends in the world of online gambling not just for the casino owners but for the gamblers too. Even if you’re not going to open your own casino this year, you may draw valuable insights from this knowledge. If you know the online gambling industry trends, you can clearly see if a casino is moving in the right direction and whether or not you should play there. Before getting into details, here’s what online gambling sites will try to sell you in 2019:
- Mobile casinos will become even more popular, and mobile gaming will be a high priority for major companies;
- Blockchain technology will be implemented in slot games from reputable providers;
- Slot machines, video poker, and other online casino games will be available in VR;
- Online casinos available through messengers.
Gambling Via Mobile Devices
It’s not a surprise that mobile devices are already way more popular than desktop computers, and one can expect that in 2019 there will be even more mobile-oriented gambling venues. We cannot say that it’s good news for mobile players. It’s rather bad news for desktop users since more and more online gambling sites will be strictly mobile-oriented and less friendly for desktop.
You should also expect some exciting bonuses, available from portable devices only, or awarded for downloading a casino app.
Blockchain Technology
While the cryptocurrency still remains a highly unstable investment, blockchain technology, in general, progresses rapidly. Recently we saw several big breakouts with blockchain gambling, one of them being provably fair slots that wrecked online gambling trends a year ago. Provably fair online slots use blockchain technology to provide a player with means to check each and every spin for fairness and display the processes used to generate the outcome of the game round. The only disadvantage of provably fair slots is that people tend to treat blockchain technology with suspicion.
Due to its decentralized nature Bitcoins were used to fund illegal activities all over the globe and therefore the reputation of blockchain was severely tarnished. That’s why we haven’t seen any provably fair slots from such major developers as NetEnt, Microgaming, and Playtech. With time people are starting to understand the importance of decentralized currencies, and we hope that provable fairness will become a standard for all software developers.
Virtual Reality Gambling
VR isn’t a new thing for players. We’ve seen casinos supporting VR slots, and they are pretty good even though the technology itself is still not fully developed and needs improvements. What is more interesting is that many casinos almost instantaneously promised to introduce VR live dealer games in 2019. This might be another great opportunity for young operators of online gambling sites to take their place in the industry since it’s way easier to create something than to completely replace something that’s already working and bringing profits.
VR Live Dealer games can bring online players as close to the real casino experience as possible. Actually, skeptics say that we don’t need to be so close since such gameplay process will significantly increase the average session time and might lead to the gambling addiction spike, but that looks like a serious exaggeration.
Messenger Online Casinos
If you didn’t yet have enough of all other forms of casinos – behold the Messenger Online Casinos. This online gambling trend promises to be pretty powerful, mostly because it allows people to play even from restricted jurisdictions, as well as bitcoin casinos do. If you’re using Telegram, for example, no one will ever figure out where you’re from until you piss off some secret service. You can play in such a casino from anywhere but you probably shouldn’t expect fancy visuals and interesting gameplay because the game will take place right in the messenger via a chatbot.
The question about legislation of such casinos remains open, but the overwhelming majority of them will probably remain unlicensed and unregulated, mostly because there is no need to get a license if you can operate without any expenses and even without a proper website. Despite the estimated popularity of such casinos we strongly recommend to avoid them because you will never have a chance to dispute their decisions regarding your balance.
What Else Should We Expect This Year?
Except for the mentioned above, there are a few more trends in online gambling technologies that are expected to hit in 2019, such as further gamification and the opening of new gambling markets. For example, slots games started re-entering the US, and Japan claimed to allow casino business within the country.
All this means that large companies will try to expand to new markets and will offer good deals to players. Some experts also foresee significant changes in gambling legislation and a further crackdown on online casinos, especially in the UK. That might be the reason to be a bit more careful with the casinos, catering to Brits, especially for those who don’t reside in the UK.