Online gambling and how it changed in the last decade
We’re at the beginning of a new decade, and it makes sense to have a look at previous decade and the most important events and trends that marked it. And has it been an eventful decade for the gambling industry!
A lot has changed and a lot has happened, but it is difficult to pinpoint exact moments and events that shaped the gambling industry in the 2010s, it was more of an era where pretty much everything changed, only gradually and over time and not at a particular moment/short timeframe. Recently we did a piece on how the gambling industry will change in the next 3 years and while that is a prediction that we can make with a fair degree of accuracy, we can tell you exactly what changed in the past decade.
The early days
Online gambling has been around since the mid-90s, at leas that’s when the first online casino was launched, but the first few years were quite slow in the sense that there were very few changes and improvements and the changes that did occur weren’t that significant. Another thing is the fact that the number of players wasn’t growing particularly fast, which lead many to believe that online gambling will not become a trend and will not take off. It was seen as a fringe thing and it was thought that online gambling will never be a substitute for land-based gambling.
But, online casinos became a lot more dynamic, the games became a lot more diverse and vibrant, and perhaps more importantly, online casinos became more trustworthy and reliable, which in turn caused a lot more players to become interested in online gambling, including also people who never showed an interest in gambling before.
Game diversity
Let’s start with game diversity. The first online slots simply matched the slot machines of the previous decade and featured only the most basic symbols such as fruits, bells, 7s and bars. At the beginning of the 2000s, online slot developers started releasing much more complex games with more diverse symbols, multiple features, based on a variety of themes.
Fast forward 15-20 years and you will find all sorts of online slots, including superhero games, games based on fairytales, movie-themed games and even games with unique themes and storylines, original and not based on anything that came before. One such example is Fishin’ Frenzy slot by Reel Time Gaming, a game featuring colourful fish, based on the concept of fishing itself without being based on any other piece of entertainment, like a film or a book.
Then came the live casino games, such as live Roulette and live Blackjack, where players get to compete against human dealers and croupiers in real time. The dynamic of these games and their appeal are quite obvious – they are as close as you can get to a land-based casino, the dealers and croupiers are place in an authentic casino environment, sat at actual Roulette and Blackjack with the players being able to make decisions and choices with a single click.
Security
In the old days of online gambling security was a primary concern and most players decided to stand clear of online casinos precisely for that reason – they suspected that online casinos simply lacked security.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. In many ways, online casinos are a lot more secure than land-based conventional casinos. In the most fortunate event that can happen at a casino – winning a jackpot, players at a land-based casino will have to walk or drive around with a bag full of cash, whereas if you hit a jackpot online, the funds can be transferred to your account without any danger.
When it comes to payment security, most casinos use protection systems that are used by leading banks and other financial institutions. Encryption technology guarantees that even if third-parties do manage to get hold of data, they won’t make much use of it, as it is coded during the process of the transaction.
If you’re registered with a reputable online casino site, you’ve got next to nothing to worry about when it comes to security, as operators ensure that all data that goes through the site is completely protected.
Casino Bonuses
Finally, last but not least, there’s another sort of incentive for players that online casinos offer, whereas land-based operators don’t – casino bonuses. When you register with an online operator you will almost certainly get a chance to claim a so-called welcome bonus, that is offered to all new players.
Most operators offer other bonuses as well, including free spins, themed bonuses on particular holidays or during the holiday season, as well as loyalty bonuses for players who have been with the operator for a while, or have wagered through a particular amount of money.
Of course, online casinos have been offering bonuses since the early days of online gambling, but modern casinos are getting a lot more creative in terms of the incentives that they are providing to their players.
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