Future of Online Gambling: What to Expect in 2020 and Beyond

What does the future of gambling have in store for us? We look ahead at the many innovations coming down the track. Technology is sure to play a pivotal part, processing power improvements, cloud computing innovations and better than ever user interfacing, we can expect some awe-inspiring developments from the technology sector in the next years. The g ambling industry is fully expected to harness all these technological improvements, as they have done already by introducing virtual reality casinos. There will also be fundamental changes to the way gambling operates around the world, COVID-19 has shut down many of the world's land-based gambling venues for the foreseeable future, causing a surge in demand for online services.
Casino chips, playing cards and dice along side a robotic arm, with electric blue lighting.
Published on: 4 August 2020

Plenty of New Innovations in the Age of Technology

New technology developments continue to expand the realms of possibility of all industries, not just gambling. It touches every corner of our lives, but the medium we interface the most with modern technology is through smartphones. Gambling operators around the world have been pouring money into emerging markets for the purpose of establishing a foothold in the smartphone gaming markets. In this article, we’ll take a close look at the top trends expected to come from gambling over the next few years.

Cryptocurrency Betting

In 2008, when Satoshi Nakamoto (the alias used for the individual, or group, behind the creation of bitcoin) released the monumental bitcoin white paper outlining a new type of technology that could enhance the way trust and verifiability are established online. The blockchain technology underlying bitcoin provided unlimited opportunities for the creation of virtual currency, and fast-forward to today, tens of thousands of software developers across the world are working tirelessly to perfect the algorithms powering new and creative variants of that original blockchain.

Betting companies, e-commerce, and capital markets have all been interfaced with cryptocurrencies. In fact, their usage is so widespread that in late 2018 a surge in the value of bitcoin sent the world into a panic frenzy to buy up vast quantities of the virtual currency. Around this time gambling firms across Asia had begun taking deposits from bitcoin, but progress towards this end has been slow in western countries – and continues to be stifled by lawmakers and regulations. The relatively de-regulated east has seen a rapid expansion of cryptocurrency betting, and unlike in the west, there are few limitations or identity confirmation protocols required. You can find a list of the best bitcoin casinos if you want to bet with this currency but still be protected by the UKGC and know that you’re on a legal site.

The main problems facing this thriving part of the betting industry is their shady connections to the criminal underworld and the ease at which cryptocurrencies are simply used as a vehicle to launder money through gambling companies’ balance sheets. It is this exact problem that regulators in Europe and North America are so paranoid. Cryptocurrency gambling in the future will have to adapt, and have enforceable mechanisms of verifying the identity of the person depositing the funds.

Smartphone Gambling Apps

The previous 10 years have witnessed an unprecedented shift in the behavior of humans using technology. We are now so close to the entire knowledge of humankind through a smartphone that one could even make the argument that humans have shifted in an evolutionary sense to part human, part machine.

Someone playing a wheel of fortune casino game on a mobile device.

But enough of the abstract and philosophical ideas, the future of gambling fully depends on the continuation of mobile gambling applications that are fully optimized to play on mobile devices. We are certainly looking towards India and Asia in this regard. Both regions have an enormous population of smartphone users, all with access to cheap data-usage plans, with a surging demand to enjoy new social liberties through gambling. Meeting this demand is something that betting companies all over the world are focused on, and investment is pouring into these emerging markets, as software developers churn out newly cooked up gambling games to deploy to the masses.

Along with wearable technology, smartphones are making it easier than ever before to access online gambling platforms wherever you are in the world. Operators will continue to streamline these processes and will continue to increase the proportion of development investment they put into their mobile apps, as appose to the desktop equivalent.

For the top mobile and tablet casinos, click here to our full list. Or, if you are looking to see downloadable mobile apps, then we also have a page for those!

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things is one of the most exciting emergent forces in gambling technology. The power of IoT is truly something that technologists around the world are getting vocal about. In its essence, all devices with an internet connection will “talk to each other” sharing data in order to streamline processes in daily human life. Refrigerators are able to detect when they are getting empty and place orders for more online shopping to be delivered automatically, for example.

These advancements have huge ramifications for the future of casino industry. Especially in slot machines, this technology has the power to truly personalize the gambling experience of the user – with automatic preferences and personal setting updated for the player as he walks around and plays the various games at the future of casinos IoT powered gambling. As an industry analyst says, “IoT has the potential to totally blow up the world of virtual slot play. To put it simply, the internet of things makes machine-to-machine communication possible. It will allow us to connect devices that don’t normally go online to a network.”

The internet of things is a very exciting area within the future of technology, and we’ll be paying very close attention to how this develops. There are certainly possibilities for an enhancement of the platform of online gaming with real-life casinos, and harmonization of this process will be a welcomed addition of any casino gambling experience. The market for IoT technology has already broken the $100bn revenue threshold, and it certainly isn’t going to start slowing down anytime soon. Casinos have long been pioneers of new technology and creating better online gambling experience through the IoT process would be a sure way to ensure its continued growth trajectory.

VR Gambling

Virtual reality has already changed the landscape of movies, gaming, and simulation training – and casinos are firmly looking for ways to introduce this revolutionary technology into their own ecosystems. VR and augmented reality technology are by far one of the most exciting innovations to come out of the last decade’s hardware developments. These devices have the capability to put you right into the center of the action. Customers could potentially be teleported into the floor of the world’s most famous casinos, interfacing with their online gambling accounts but feeling as if they were sitting at the poker table alongside some of the best poker stars in the world. The possibilities for reimagining the gambling experience with virtual reality are truly staggering.

Someone wearing a VR headset.

It is without a doubt one of the most anticipated technologies in the world at the moment. With interest coming from a variety of sectors, people are becoming incredibly excited by the future possibilities of virtual reality. The iGaming sector has been aware of this potential for some time now and has already spoken of how the future of online gambling and virtual reality will be inextricably linked. In the next few years, we will undoubtedly witness a massive push on the virtual reality capabilities of the world’s largest casinos. Imagine being able to attend live races and tournaments from the comfort of your own home.

Gambling Online in the Aftermath of COVID-19

online gambling has survived the worst of it and is now flourishing from the surge in demand for the online products.

If virtual reality technology, communication with the platforms and integration with third-party apps are to truly enhance the capabilities of future online gambling platforms, then this pandemic has truly served as a fantastic staging area for the changes coming down the track. Whilst the pandemic has been terrible too for sport, advancements in virtual sports and esports betting have stepped in to fill the gap of real sports and protect the future of betting. Online gambling remains a solid industry, with continuous improvement capability, growing customer satisfaction, and a drive to meet the demand in untapped areas of the world, the future of gambling will be prosperous.

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