Online casino trends in 2021: what's next?

The online casino market is huge and continues to grow at a rapid pace. In Canada, around 75 to 85 percent of individuals participate in some form of gambling. It is also similarly a popular pastime in the United States, where gambling and online casino legislation is managed on a state-by-state basis.

Playing in a digital casino is a great way to have some fun, blow off steam and if you are lucky, take home some winnings. There are a huge variety of games to play, from card games like poker and blackjack to slots and roulette.

Online casino growth

The rise of online casinos is being spurred on by the huge leaps in technological advancement that have been made in the last few years. Everything from blockchain and cryptocurrency to virtual reality and artificial intelligence is being used to improve the casino user’s experience.

In order to be the best online casino and maintain a competitive advantage, operators must adapt to the changing needs and expectations of their users. As more online casinos enter the market, competition is set to get even more fierce.

It has been estimated that between now and the year 2025, the annual growth rate of this industry will be almost 15 percent. With the help of new technological innovations more people than ever will enjoy what online casinos have on offer.

2021 technology trends

Now that we are in 2021, there are a number of technology trends taking off that will impact and improve the experiences that online casino players have.

Here are a few technology trends and innovations that are beginning to take off this year:

Cloud based platforms for gaming

Cloud based technology will revolutionize the gaming industry and many other industries in 2021 and beyond.

A number of technology focused giant corporations have been investing in cloud based gaming in recent years, with the likes of Google, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and Electronic Arts all joining the race to roll out this new innovation. Google’s new release the Stadia cloud streaming game service is one of the front runners in this area. Rather than needing a specific console, games can be played from any device.

Online casinos are well known for their convenience, as many give players the ability to play from their mobile or laptop without needing to download a software or the requirement of high-performance capabilities.

However, cloud-based platforms within the online casino market could allow players to start a game on their computer and continue it on their phone or tablet on the go. This feature will enable online casinos to keep up with the needs of their increasingly busy and tech savvy audiences.

Cloud technology isn’t just a fad. It has been predicted that by the end of this year, around 60 percent of companies will use public cloud platforms and around one quarter of all developers will make use of serverless technology.

The use of blockchain technology

Blockchain and cryptocurrency has been receiving much more attention in mainstream media in recent years.

In short, blockchain is a way of recording information in a relatively secure way and works as a digital ledger of transactions. It operates through a decentralised database. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are underpinned by blockchain and are used to make anonymous and safe transactions on the internet.

There are a growing number of casino businesses that are utilizing blockchain technology to improve and innovate new gaming and transaction processes. For example, the Ethereum blockchain has been used for a process for enabling users to make predictions.

Others are embracing cryptocurrency. There are other online casinos emerging that use cryptocurrencies as their only means of transactions and payment methods. This allows payment to be easy, secure and private.

Many existing online casinos are adding cryptocurrency to their payment method options in response to growing demand.

Some online casinos are opting to add more payment methods like the popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

In the future, it seems that decentralised databases and means of fiscal transactions will become as popular or more popular than traditional banking methods.

5G will make online casinos faster and more accessible

Just over one decade ago 4G was released and was considered to be groundbreaking, it allowed mobile casinos to truly up their game. 4G greatly improved loading times and made way for more visual and dynamic casino games.

More recently, 5G has been released in a number of countries and is being slowly rolled out worldwide. With this technology internet speeds can reach up to 10 gigabits per second. This will have the biggest impact on live casino table games. Games of poker and blackjack that are live streamed online will be much more seamless on mobile.

Better speed and bandwidth may make more social interactions possible; it could give players and not just dealers the ability to video call into live games.

These improvements make virtual reality technology even more usable on mobile devices. Virtual reality is being invested by many of the major operators in the online casino market.

Using VR, players may soon be able to have the authentic casino experience from the comfort of their own home. While games such as this have been released on a small scale, we can expect new, larger scale game releases in the months and years ahead.

This post was written by Jimmy Francis and published in accordance with our disclosure policy