The Past
In the early days of the internet, when more and more personal computers were managing to find their place in people’s houses, the gambling industry quickly adapted to this new technology. It brought their games to people’s personal computers.
The first gaming company Microgaming was formed in 1994, the year that Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade and Processing Act. This is considered the first company to develop the first true online casino, known as The Gaming Club. However, the fact that this was the first-ever online casino game remains questionable.
The Act that was passed was a gateway for casino brands to make their games available online. Soon after Microgaming, many other brands started to develop their own games and made casinos available to most internet users. To have a general idea of how fast the industry grew, in 1996, there were around 15 online casinos, and in the year 1997, that number was comprised of around 200.
The early casino games available on the internet were elementary and almost identical to their land-based counterparts. While the internet continued to evolve rapidly, developers started to realize the limitless design possibilities that the virtual world can offer.
Casino game developers started to focus more on design, especially in designing slot games. Working with software gave the developers a lot of room for experimentation and trying out new things, new ways to make their games more enjoyable.
The Present
The biggest boom in online gambling came with the rise of smartphones and the performance capabilities that they brought with them. Games started to look and perform way better than before. Instead of playing casino games on their specific website, casino brands started to make their games available directly through individual apps to make them instantly accessible.
Casino brands need to adapt quickly when it comes to technological innovations to compete in the online market, and to this day, they have been able to do just that. Graphics and gameplay have become more impressive with each new generation. Casino game developers can develop their games with cross-platform support to play with which platform they are most comfortable with.
One example of a modern casino website that offers a plethora of online slot games is Slotpark. On this website, you can find the top-rated games Sizzling Hot, Book of Ra, Lucky Lady’s Charm, and Lord of the Ocean by the developer Novomatic which have been tested and approved by individual organizations. Besides being able to play on their website, casino games also come as apps to be accessed immediately without navigating their web page.
The Future
A new trend is starting to take over the gaming industry, VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). VR is a platform that has not been received well during its initial launch. Many considered it to be a gimmick like how the Kinect was for the Xbox. However, since it was released, the technology started to improve in terms of both hardware and software and has started to gain popularity in the mainstream.
Casino games are also starting to adopt this new technology. Imagine developers creating a full casino inside virtual space, and you, the player, can interact with all the different games that a complete land-based casino has to offer. Also, the number of ways in which a casino space can be built in the virtual space can only be limited by the developer’s imagination.
As for AR, it is a bit too early to know how this will affect gaming in the future and how it will enhance the experience, as it’s still in its early development stages.
Like any other entertainment form, there is no telling what the future may bring to virtual gambling. Certain is that the gambling industry is not one to fall behind when it comes to technological progress.
