The Future of Online Casinos: Trends and Predictions for the Industry
Online casinos are nearly always growing in popularity across the world each year. It doesn't take Nostradamus to predict online casinos will keep growing, at least if the global economy does.
That's another story entirely - but as long as people have spare money, some of them will enjoy spending it gambling. As more and more economies develop, more people are coming online with money to spend on enjoying online casinos, so it's hard to see it all stopping soon.
Right Now
- $50 billion to $150 billion market
- The future means more innovation, building on the tech of today
So, how much are online casinos worth now? Well, estimates vary. The entire online gambling market is somewhere between $50 and $150 billion in value in 2022. That's a big range - but with so many operators across so many jurisdictions it's almost impossible to track it accurately.
That's the money side - but what about the future for online casino players? With all that revenue, you can be sure a lot of it will be plowed straight back into improving the experience for players.
Bigger prizes, more innovative and higher budget games. New technology. It's all coming soon, so you better get to know before it does! Here's our guide to what we think the most important changes in the future of the online casino will be!
1. Artificial Intelligence
- Basically, can and will be involved in all aspects of online casinos eventually
- Only at the very beginning right now, and it's already moving fast
Artificial Intelligence has gone from basically a bit of a joke to an incredibly useful and widespread tool to potentially destructive threat to civilization in just a few years.
Like almost every aspect of the online world, AI and online casinos will interact. And soon.
You might find your casino customer support replaced by an indistinguishable from human chat bot. You might find AIs that can analyze your playing history and recommend you the exact games you want, before you'd even thought of them.
You might even see AI helpers in games, that can explain the rules to you or answer questions about the game, on the fly.
An AI even wrote this… nope. Just joking. But seriously, the future of online casinos is almost undoubtedly going to include a lot of AIs at this point. What you think about that is up to you.
2. The Blockchain
- Crypto casinos are growing, and the possibilities are even bigger
- The tech behind cryptocurrencies could revolutionize casino transactions - if regulators allow
Since the dawn of online casinos, you have had people on forums complaining that x or y games are rigged and unfair. There are a bunch of ways to certify that games are fair, usually involving third parties like e-cogra.
However - none can be as provably fair as blockchain based games. Blockchain data (anonymized) is freely available to all parties concerned, or it usually is.
That means players can check the stats of a game across days, months or years and at any time.
With smart contracts, cryptocurrencies can also be coded for real time payouts. Imagine that!
A casino with zero payout times, as each bet is smart contracted between your wallets in real time. This is probably some way off and would be a nightmare for regulators.
But the technology is there, so don't be surprised if you see it rolled out in the future.
3. More Live and Hybrid Game Shows
- More spectacle and high budget games
- New takes on traditional casino games, made in live-hybrid formats
As for the future of games - expect even more innovation in the live casino space for a start.
Evolution, Pragmatic Play and Playtech have all rolled out live casino versions of some of their slot games over the past year or so. Expect to see a lot more of these, and virtual reality games too.