What Will the Future of Online Gaming Look Like?

Online casinos have been around only since about 2000 and Springbok is still a babe in the woods as far as experience and length of service goes.  As much as has happened in the world of online casinos since Springbok started up in 2012, much more has happened when we go all the way back to the first days of online casinos.

Whilst Springbok hasn’t been around for twenty years, we have seen all of the developments in the online casino world over that time and we have learnt a great deal from everything.  It is because of our ability and willingness to learn from other online casinos’ experience that we feel confident in calling ourselves the top online casino for New Zealand and Australia - in addition to South Africa.

In order to get a good solid grasp of what we can expect from the future of online casinos, we should look at what we have learnt already.  

Technology

The past in the history of online casinos is primarily the story of internet technology.  The first online casinos were heavy.  They operated at the speed of the times.  They also had a relatively small number of games.  The big technological breakthroughs came in video games such as slots and poker, instant play, and mobile.

Of these top three technological advances, instant play may be the most important.  The graphics are so good that gamers don’t have to download the casino to their hard drive anymore.  This frees gamers’ hard drives, of course, and it has an even more important effect on online casinos: gamers can go from one casino to another simply by bringing it up on their browser.

Land Based Casinos Respond to Technological Challenge

The technological revolution has spawned a great revolution in land based casinos.  This is called the Integrated Resort solution to the difficulties land based casinos have attracting players in a world in which a person can sit leisurely at home and play at several online casinos at once.

In short, an Integrated Resort has amenities for everyone from families to conventioneers to theatre goers to shoppers, diners, or just travelers looking for excellent accommodations.  The casino is there to be sure but it is no longer at the front and center of the resort.

Online casinos are just casinos.  By definition they are at the front and center whenever a player opens one.  There are many more online casino games than games you can play at a land based casino.  Online, you never have to wait for your seat at a table to open up or for the slots game you want to play to become free.

Future Technology

In the future, games will go faster.  Progressive jackpots will reach tens of millions of dollars.  There are many technological improvements that we can only imagine in the part of our brain given over to science fiction.

There has already been experimentation with robots that are as life-like as any human dealer as the dealers in Live Casinos.

As creative as the game developers have become, they will have to imagine themes that no one has thought of before.  There are thousands of online slots games produced by more than 150 game developers.  The reason there are so many slots games as opposed to blackjack or video poker, which remain the two most popular online casino games after slots, is because the public demands newness in its games.

We have no idea what new themes game developers will come up with in the next ten years but we are sure that at some point in the future we will be amazed at a single innovation in slots that every developer then imitates.

In the last decade the big innovation in slots was first games based on hit television series or movies.  Now, almost every developer has at least one game based on an entertainment in a different medium.

The next wave may be 3-D.  There are already some experimental slots in 3-D but we expect great strides in this area in the near future.

Mobile

When mobile began as a gaming platform, it frankly was not very good.  Today’s mobile graphics are spectacular and the graphics and animation will only get better in the future.  For that reason, amongst many others, casinos are proud to be affiliated with a number of game developers all of which can move to use new technology in an instant.

Finding a Niche

Online casinos will need to sell their brand as if they were selling shoes or snack foods.  The brand will prevail as a marketing mechanism.  One prominent branding technique will be to market the casino to a very specific population, usually a national one.  At Springbok Casino, we call ourselves the top online casino for Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.  This is not to downplay our casino’s desire to attract players from as many countries as we can.  It means that in the modern world, every online casino has to find a niche.

Casinos may offer deposits in a larger number of currencies.   Whilst today there are a small number of online casinos that accept bitcoin - Springbok does (!) - in the very near future there may be thousands of casinos that do so and many casinos that accept a number of cyber-currencies.

Casinos will facilitate withdrawals much faster than now because identifying the player through technology in cyberspace will make it possible to avoid all the identification players need to send to the casino to get their withdrawals today.

Safety and Security

We use the best available encryption software to protect your money whilst it is on deposit here at Springbok.  Every online company that takes money as deposit or as payment does the same.  Unfortunately, cyber hackers are getting more sophisticated by the day.  So, there will be even better ways to protect your money and your privacy in the future.

Promotions

As the world’s population nears 9 billion people, and as so many of these people are able to reach the internet, every online casino will have to raise the bar on every promotion it offers.  Whilst R10,000 might be a good bonus today, the same amount in value will not be enough in a growing world with billions of potential gamers.

Bonuses and all types of promotions will get better.  Just as players’ salaries have skyrocketed in professional sports in the last two decades, so will the value of all online casino promotions rise dramatically in the future.

The Future Approaches at Lightning Speed

One thing we can be very sure of is that the future will be much faster than life is today.  It could even be that an online casino finds its niche by offering nostalgic gaming at the speed our great grandparents played way back in the 20^th century!