The global gaming industry has been galloping forward year after year. Based on the latest tech innovations and an increase in the number of players worldwide, 2024 will keep spicing things up in this field.
This article brings about the five interesting innovations in the world of iGaming for this year.
1. Mobile Casinos Going Forth
Sometimes it’s also hard to believe the number of users and the scope of services on the global mobile market.
For iGaming providers and their customers, this growth has already opened more options for on-the-go players.
One trend that is new in 2024 is the additional drive to simplify the gaming experience via mobiles, without compromising the available features. For instance, the convenience of the registration process is much different on a desktop or laptop than on a smartphone. Typically, mobile iGamers want their experience smooth and fast, while computer players tolerate a bit longer procedure.
Within this trend, 2024 will see a rise in pay’n’play casinos, where players will enjoy immediate withdrawals even when using traditional payment methods like credit and debit cards instead of cryptocurrencies (source: https://instantcasino.com/).
The same innovation is already visible in online casino apps, where developers are trying to make payments (both deposits and withdrawals) as simple as possible, while still visually attractive to mobile users.
2. Wearable iGaming
Wearable gadgets have been with us for more than a decade now, and recently, they’ve found a way to the iGamers’ hearts (and spades, diamonds, and clubs, as well).
But why, why would anyone play, say, blackjack on a smartwatch, rather than a mobile?
The answer is simple: for the sake of convenience. If you go for an evening run, you might not want to bring your smartphone with you. But a smartwatch would come in handy (pun intended), for tracking and workout analytics purposes. And then, there’s happy hour with special bonuses on your favorite iGaming website. You take a break, play your game via the watch, and keep jogging.
This is only one situation where such a gaming experience is more comfortable than playing on a smartphone or desktop.
3. Online Casinos in Virtual Reality
Have you ever wanted to sit at a poker table with people from all over the world without having to physically move?
With the application of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), you’ll be able to enjoy such iGaming events in (your virtual) person.
Immersing yourself in online gambling is something that wasn’t possible only a few years ago, and it will keep developing this year.
This kind of comfort is opposite to the simplicity explained above, regarding the easily accessible mobile platforms and scaled-down smartwatch iGaming.
Those players who wish to plunge themselves into the world of VR gaming need to invest more time and assets into hardware first. Then they need to find the right platform – not all iGaming websites have enabled these options so far, so it could be a bit time-consuming.
However, once you tick all the boxes, you’ll try something completely different; for example, creating your personalized avatars, building your iGaming personality, and building a separate online self are only some of the benefits.
4. AI-assisted Gambling
Using ChatGPT as an encyclopedia-like assistant is practical, but that’s only a tiny portion of what AI solutions are already capable of.
In terms of online gambling, AI-powered add-ons are already a reality on many websites. The moment you land on a gambling platform, a chatbot pops up, asking you if it can help. They typically come with a certain number of predefined questions and answers, so they’re limited but still useful solutions.
As your gaming sessions unfold, there are AI tools designed to track your behavioral patterns, invested assets, win-loss ratio, and any other features relevant to the platform provider. Based on these findings, you might receive some recommendations to improve your iGaming presence or even warnings that you should invest less (e.g. when you’ve lost a certain amount of money within a certain interval).
5. Diverse Regulatory Frameworks
The changes occurring in the iGaming field influence the regulatory framework (we won’t say vice versa because that’s usually not the case; the legislation often lags behind real-life scenarios).
In the US, for instance, online casinos are currently legal in seven federal states, with five additional states highly likely to legalize them soon. A few years ago, there wasn’t even a legal framework that would prescribe how gaming providers should behave. Now we can see fervent debates across the US to bring the right legislative frameworks on a state level to legalize various forms of iGaming.
California is one of these states, where local players are stuck between iGaming providers and tribal casino owners. In a referendum held at the end of 2022, most voters voted against the legalization of sports betting in the Golden State. And yet, the discussion hasn’t died down but kept burning.
In the UK, every legal entity providing betting and gambling services – offline and online – must be licensed by the UK Gaming Commission.
The swiftly rising markets, like Southeast Asia and Latin America, are highly likely to see a fast adaptation of legal propositions for iGaming throughout 2024.
Conclusion
We’ve seen many upgrades and innovations in digital gambling and betting worldwide in the last few years. From responsive iGaming websites, wearables, and crispy apps to AI-powered plugins and VR enhancements, it’s been a fast ride.
Things are already getting hectic in Q1 2024, so we should only sit back and enjoy all the benefits that online gambling will be giving us this year.