The online casino market generates billions of dollars in revenues each year, enjoying average annual growth of almost 9% as it takes off in various regions of the globe.
Today sites like Casumo casino appeal to a diverse player base, and as regulators continue to make the industry safer and more transparent for all, access to an even wider audience may be inevitable in the coming decade.
So what does the future hold for the online casino industry and are there any technical innovations which could push it further, or challenges that need to be overcome?
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Mainstream acceptance
Part of the reason that the trajectory of the online casino industry looks so promising moving forward is that it affords wider availability of web-based gambling services, regardless of whether or not such practices are sanctioned under local law.
Indeed the uptake of online gambling has essentially legitimised the practice in many places where it was previously outlawed altogether or merely unregulated.
In 2019 the US legalised sports betting, opening the floodgates for an influx of activity, generating $4 billion in a matter of months and bringing cash which would previously have been spent at unlicensed bookmakers into registered, regulated operators where it can be taxed and have a positive impact on the economy and society simultaneously.
An eroding of incumbent, hostile views towards gambling of all kinds is taking place in plenty of other places. In China, players have spent over $24 billion via such services in spite of government attempts to curb these activities.
Ultimately it seems that the authorities will have to legalise and regulate online gambling, because it is very much here to stay and cannot be quashed with outright bans.
Mobile migration
Perhaps unsurprisingly it is the proliferation of smartphone technology which has helped to transform the landscape for digital entertainment in the past few years, not just in the world of online casinos but also more broadly for everything from video games to the streaming of movies, TV shows and other types of content.
With the dawn of the 5G age which is taking place right now, average users will be able to tap into significantly faster connectivity while out and about, rising to hundreds of megabits per second and even exceeding gigabit speeds in ideal circumstances.
Opening up all of this bandwidth and speed will allow online casino operators to offer even more impressive, immersive experiences to customers who are increasingly choosing to play from their portable devices. As well as games which are graphically richer and more detailed, there is the opportunity to integrate other modern smartphone features such as augmented reality for new ways to play, as well as improved multi-factor authentication, boosting security by using biometric identifiers to prevent unwanted access.
Many operators already offer live casino games, streamed in real time over the internet. 5G will allow more people to enjoy such services at a higher quality and in larger numbers, which will bolster the business’ appeal and impact further.
Potential pushback
While there is no doubt that gambling has gradually lost a lot of its stigma thanks largely to the online casino business, there is still a lot of scrutiny placed on the way the industry operates and a degree of reticence to see it spread its wings further in certain circles.
A lot of this comes down to the way it is advertised, with critics arguing that in places like the UK it has become intimately connected with sporting events, normalising the pastime and making it harder for problem gamblers to escape the marketing associated with it.
There are also fears about the introduction of gambling to younger audiences, such as via loot box systems which are still used in many video games, especially on mobile platforms.
Navigating the need to appease regulators and campaigners while still being able to promote their products and services will be the toughest thing for online casinos to achieve effectively in the future. Yet even with these hurdles to vault, the outlook for the industry is positive, and the healthy competition amongst operators still leaves room for new arrivals to flourish.
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