It goes without saying that the interactive gaming industry has undergone multiple significant transformations in its two-and-a-half-decade existence. When this sector got up and running in the mid-1990s, slots dominated online casino game lobbies, and VIP programs were not yet a thing. However, as the years went on, live tables and deposit match welcome promos appeared and took their place as premium player baits, along with various other elements that made online gambling a much richer experience than what it was in its inception. It is what has allowed this landscape as a whole to reach $261.8 billion in annual revenues worldwide.
In the past few years, on account of technological advancements, this sphere has evolved rapidly. It has grown at a pace that was previously unimaginable. Game catalogs that have more-or-less remained unchanged for years, genre-wise, are seeing new additions, and the way people are gambling over the internet is significantly changing.
What follows is a quick rundown of the top trend seen at the biggest casinos in the US and ones appearing outside the boundaries of traditional gaming sites. Yes, that is also happening now, and it gets elaborated on below.
Metaverse Casinos
The concept behind metaverses has been around for a while now. Yet, in their current iteration, these virtual shared spaces have popped up in the past three years, primarily thanks to blockchain tech going mainstream. One can say that the original metaverse, the platform that fits the modern definition of this term, was the online multimedia game Second Life, which debuted in 2003. It set the groundwork with its in-house economy and interactivity options that many modern virtual worlds, such as Decentraland and the Sandbox, are now emulating.
The mentioned two platforms, plus others like them, exist on the Ethereum blockchain and use Ether-tokens to power their users’ transaction capabilities through fungible and non-fungible tokens. It is the ones of the the ERC-20 varieties that gamblers utilize to bet on games of chance offered in these world’s venues. For example, in Decentraland, ICE Poker is a highly-popular virtual establishment that implements a system where gamblers buy wearable NFT to get an allotment of chips daily that they can use to enjoy card action and complete various challenges. The Tominoya Casino, also in Decentraland, incorporates a more traditional gaming system, as this is a digital locale packed with pits that deliver old-school gambling fun. As mentioned, players can only bet using crypto tokens at this venue, but these can later get converted to cash at famous exchanges like CoinsPaid and Kraken.
Novel Presenter Games
What gamblers like to refer to as game show games popped up on the Web in 2017 when Evolution pioneered this category with Dreamcatcher, their version of the Big Six. Little did the world’s leading provider of live dealer products know that this move would unleash a new streaming game genre. As demand grew, Evolution released Monopoly Live, Deal or No Deal, Mega Ball, and Crazy Time. The last-mentioned title was a game-changer, as it fused presenter and RNG gameplay, opening new entertainment avenues for players.
In 2022, Evolution took things further by setting loose the ground-breaking online live game show Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt, available in VR. It broke the mold by delivering high-end graphics and an overall stunning presentation. In 2023, expect Evolution competitors Pragmatic Play Live and Playtech to follow in the Riga-based company’s footsteps and branch off into this arena, dramatically redefining the presenter game class.
Skill-Based Gambling
Casino gaming is entirely chance-based. At least, that is how it got defined before, player versus operator action, where the side that organizes the gambling games always has a mathematical advantage over its competition. That is a system that has worked for centuries. Unfortunately, for gambling businesses, newer generations of players that have grown up with video games find the gameplay featured in traditional casino picks boring, lacking the interactivity level that they crave.
To cater to younger demographics, operators have chosen to explore skill-based gaming. That first happened in 2015/16, when Nevada and New Jersey allowed this option to their land-based venues. And recently, it has become a trend at interactive sites also. Fish Catch from RTG is an arcade-style shooter that announced the arrival of products where players, through expertise, could lower the operator’s advantage. Expectations are now that these titles should attain a higher level of prominence in 2023.
Complex Loyalty Programs
VIP systems at online casinos are nothing new. They have been around for over a decade, establishing themselves as one of the pivotal aspects of gambling site selection.
While before, these schemes consisted of perks like deposit matches and level-up bonuses, now, particularly at crypto gambling platforms, they have attained a new form, churning out Rakeback, loot-box-like promos, investment opportunities, and more. The benefits and options that lay inside them are far more complicated than what this sector permitted just a few years ago. Staking is a particularly interesting concept involving casino users locking a portion of their funds in a site’s vault and getting a share of the platform’s revenues paid out as dividends in return.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality in the online gambling industry got set to make a massive splash in 2016 when Microgaming showed off a demo of its iteration of VR roulette, a game that unfortunately never made its way onto gaming sites. Playtech attempted to capitalize on the publicity VR tech received in the mid-2010s by releasing a virtual reality slot named Hot Gems, which never found its fans.
Nevertheless, VR is seemingly returning in a big way in interactive gaming, as evidenced by the playability numbers Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt has amassed in 2022. NetEnt, operating under Evolution’s umbrella, is planning on releasing a VR version of the slot Gonzo’s Quest soon. And streaming provider Medialive Casino is running a version of VR roulette at select hubs. Therefore, VR is clearly making a comeback.
Parting Thought
Aside from the mentioned trends, expect to see slots get upgraded game mechanics in 2023, especially those hailing from providers like Nolimit City, Woohooo, Betsoft, and Nucleus Gaming. Also, AR table entertainment may be just around the corner. So, look for that as well.
