Regardless of their size and wealth, the well-being of any company is always in peril. They need to constantly monitor the situation and adapt to the new challenges. They also need to innovate in order to stay relevant and keep the revenue coming. The same applies to all businesses including online casinos. They need to capture player feedback, follow different trends, and come up with new strategies to make their content more appealing.
These are all gradual changes that add up. So, even if online casinos of 2021 don’t look that different compared to 2020, you can see a massive difference between online casino sites available today and those available in the early 2000s’. Now let’s take a look at how this market will look in the year 2022.
Upgraded Visuals in Online Casino Slot Games
Slots are the main money makers in this industry, and software providers invest a lot just so they can constantly create new games. Basically, online casinos are clients for these software companies, and they want to make their offer more appealing. So we can expect to see more 3D animations and better graphics in the upcoming slot games, or we will see some re-works on the existing popular titles. This will allow online casino sites to improve their offer and market these new games to gambling fans. It also means there will be new free spins and welcome bonuses that can be used for playing this content. In other words, this is always a good deal for gamblers. Plus, we will definitely see some new and improved progressive jackpot titles.
More Platforms That Accept Crypto
We have seen a steady increase in the number of sites that accept cryptocurrency. This trend will likely continue and the list of accepted currencies will also expand. Blockchain payments are generally more secure and have faster processing time, but it’s so much more than that in this case. When we talk about online casinos, cryptos bring something else to the table, and that’s the ability to play anonymously. Now, this is very neat for those who are overly concerned with personal data, but that’s not the best part.
Thanks to crypto payments, online gambling will be more accessible all over the world, even in regions where it is banned. Meaning, we will see more activity in the upcoming years, even in those restricted areas.
Gambling Wearables
Smartwatches have come a long way, and now they can be used even for online shopping. Being able to pay for things using your smartwatch, also means you can place bets. This is definitely exciting news for the developers as they might get to play with new concepts, or how to better optimize their content for these smaller screens. This also means that these gadgets will become more popular among the gambling community, mainly because they offer more discretion.
VR Casinos
Online casino platforms have done an amazing job with live dealer games, to make the whole experience more authentic and engaging. Now with VR, they get to bring this to a whole new level. The only barrier to creating more VR casino games is the player base infrastructure or the fact that not many people own a VR headset. However, as this market gets more competitive the equipment will be more affordable. Moreover, we will definitely see more VR casino games in the upcoming year, and players will be able to walk around these virtual casinos rather than browse a website.
More Responsibility
The iGaming industry grew significantly over the past 2 years, mainly due to government-enforced lockdowns. People were spending more time at home and needed something to combat the boredom. This usually creates concern among the population, and regulators impose new restrictions. So, we will likely see more regulatory action in the upcoming year, and casinos will have to be more socially responsible. This might also indicate more of them will do things to give back to the community, or support green initiatives, etc.
eSports Betting on the Rise
Casinos are always on the lookout for new ways on how to attract a younger audience, and we have seen a few good attempts. They added old-school arcade games or made slots that are themed after popular superheroes or video games. However, the best answer is to get more involved in eSports. Some land-based casinos are already hosting these tournaments, and online providers are looking to add eSports betting options. Currently, there aren’t many sites that offer live betting on these events, so that’s definitely on the horizon for the upcoming year.
Conclusion
As you can see there are more than a handful of positive changes that are just around the corner. Some other things that we can expect are mostly related to security, which is really a standard nowadays. Apple seems to be the most advanced on this front, so other tech companies might mimic them, and try to replicate what they do. We will also see more live games, given how the player base is responding in a positive way to that content and we might also see some new table games added to the mix.
Right now these sites are mostly focused on quantity, which is why there are so many new games available. However, the moment they don’t see the desired reaction they will start to innovate more on that front.
