Last year was successful for online casinos: the gambling market grew by 9%. 85 countries around the world legalized online gambling. Online bookmaker, slots and other gambling games together account for 70% of all internet gambling revenues.
Gambling in the global network is very popular due to the wide variety of offers and comfortable gameplay without any restrictions. A lot of online slots novelties, developing new playing platforms, like VR Slot. Also, players have an ability to play with Bitcoin and other crypto currency in future.
The greatest revenue of online slots, comes from China, Britain, USA, Austria, Germany, France and Italy. It is expected that the global online gambling market will exceed $ 60 billion by 2020.
It will be fair to note that the development of the online gambling market is close to its maximum. And this is connected with the consolidation in the industry. In recent years there are more and more mergers and acquisitions. In some cases, this is due to the achievement of strategic planning objectives. From other side, to survive, as some companies find it difficult to cope with growing competition. We are talking about the takeover of Bwin and the open question of the merger of William Hill, 888 and Playtech.
New online casinos technologies, Virtual Reality
New technologies have a strong influence on the gaming market. In future. there will be an active development of mobile gambling. Only the best new products will compete, which means that users will notice an improvement in the quality of mobile gambling.
All technical changes, including those associated with the speed of mobile Internet, will not be particularly noticeable for end users.
The main surprise is virtual reality in online gambling is creating the VR slot and casinos. Thanks to the development of Microsoft HoloLens, HTC Vive and Playstation VR in the near future, we can play the VR slot.
New achievements in VR technology allow reliable reproduction of emotions and physiological sensations. With the help of VR glasses, you can walk around the hall of virtual casinos. Even more, you can talk with the dealer and place bets at any gaming table.
Last year, at the international conference ICE Totally Gaming, Microgaming presented a virtual roulette. Also, NetEnt actively studies VR technologies. The visitors of online gambling exhibitions, already experience the VR slot “Jack and a bean tree”. Players and competitors appreciated an amazingly realistic journey.
Talking about their achievements in virtual reality, representatives of Novomatic note the main advantages of realistic online games. These are full immersion in the gameplay, incredible emotions, even brighter than in real life. Playing VR slot may be possible in any convenient place where there is an Internet connection. Novomatic is one of the pioneers in the implementation of VR technology in online gambling, with a large number of new developments.
Progressive jackpot in Live Casino
Many gamblers choose online slots with progressive jackpot, as this is a chance to win a big prize. Now, this technology is gradually spreading to poker. The Evolution Gaming has already introduced a new progressive jackpot Jumbo 7 in Live Casino Hold’em, which became the first in the world!
The initial size of the jackpot is 1 000 000 euros. But it is cumulative, the amount increases in proportion to the activity of the players. Director of Evolution Gaming Todd Househalter said that the size of the jackpot can grow to an incredible amount of 30 million euros! Agree, playing poker with such big prize is much more exciting. The game also provides a second-level jackpot with lower fixed payments.
Other developers of live casinos are also considering the possibility of introducing a progressive jackpot that is tempting for players.
Playing for Bitcoin in Online Casino
In 2016, the UK Gambling Commission authorized the use of Bitcoin as a payment currency for online games in the UK. And this has given rise to the use of the peer payment system by large operators around the world.
According to experts, this year there will be an incredible surge in Bitcoin popularity online. But not so much because of the convenience, but due to the transparency of operations. Each transaction, every spin or roll of dices is logged in the blockchain, so players can know exactly how fair the online casino behaves.
In fact, at the moment we are at the start of the transparency era, which was launched by blockchain technology. This is comparable to the spread of the Internet or smartphones, without which it is difficult to imagine our life today.
Security issues in online gambling
New technologies suggest the search for new ways to address security issues. Moreover, recently, DDoS attacks have become more frequent. Last year they caused very bad harm to online bookmakers’ sites. As it turned out, even large operators paying close attention to security issues, such as the British William Hill are not completely protected. Last fall, the services of this operator worked unstably, and with a $ 5 million revenue per day, losses would fairly be called weighty. In 2017, a significant portion of the investment of gambling operators will be aimed at ensuring security.
Women in online casinos
The number of female audience among gamblers in online casinos grows from 2015. And now it only intensifies. According to researches, women prefer to gamble on mobile devices. This gives more freedom of action and avoids ridicule on the part of men’s players.
The most active players are women under the age of 35. But older ladies also do not mind to occasionally spin the reels, run a roulette or shuffle the cards.
Furthermore, there are some special casinos that are made specifically for women.
These are the trends of the current year! Stay with us to always be aware of the gambling industry and gaming world news, as well as being able to be among the first to try them at the Shangri La online casino.