We can often take modern comforts for granted. Just a decade ago, ordering Chinese or Indian food to your door required a phone call to the restaurant and for you to hand over cash when it arrived.
There was no way you could get McDonald’s without leaving the house and you couldn’t reliably pay for goods and services without carrying your wallet with your cards and cash.
Yet, today, all of that has changed thanks to food delivery apps like Uber Eats and mobile wallet solutions like Apple Pay. It’s also being changed again thanks to artificial intelligence.
The same is true for casino games. We can often take for granted iGaming companies have made it possible for us to enjoy an almost endless number of card, table, and slot games at the touch of a button.
But, less than 20 years ago, there were no casino apps available for smartphones and just 10 years before that, the only way to have a flutter would be in person at a land-based casino.
Over these three decades, the iGaming industry has constantly been at the forefront of innovation, creating new and exciting games and different ways to play them.
Early Years – The Digital Switchover
The first online casino opened in 1994, a few months after Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade and Processing Zone Act 1994. This legislation made it possible, for the first time, to operate a remote wagering business, essentially giving birth to the iGaming industry.
In the years that followed, companies began developing digital versions of all the most popular casino games, including blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and slots. As this was happening, Microsoft released Windows 95 and companies like AOL were allowing people to connect to the internet for the first time.
This was the perfect conditions for an explosion in iGaming, with supply and demand both increasing at the same time.
Expanding Options
As time went on, iGaming companies began searching for ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. The main way to do this was to increase the number of options that they offered to their players so that they had a unique offering that enticed new users to sign up.
There were different ways to do this, all of which we can see today. For example, PokerStars Casino has hundreds of different games for its players to choose from, including multiple variants of classic titles like blackjack.
Players have a choice of five different variants, including the exclusive PokerStars Blackjack and its higher roller and premium games.
You can see the same with roulette, which has European and American variants, along with several different takes of these that have their own unique tweaks to the rules that mix up the gameplay and give players a new challenge.
Staying at the Forefront of Technology
One of the biggest drivers for iGaming’s innovations has been technology. Companies that online casinos and betting sites have consistently embraced new developments to help them create an improved offering for players.
Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are the best example of this, following the rapid adoption of these pocket-sized computers in the late 2000s and early 2010s, casinos quickly developed new gaming apps that let players bet on the go.
Some brands have also experimented with virtual reality technology, creating a fully immersive experience that lets you play card and table games while you sit at a virtual 3D table.
Streaming technology has also radically changed iGaming, allowing casinos to create live dealer variants. These combine the convenience of playing online with the interactive social aspect of visiting a land-based casino by having a human spin wheels and deal cards on a live video feed.
The Future
From the first sites in 1995 to today’s feature-rich casino apps, at every turn, the iGaming industry has embraced new technologies to create an ever more immersive and exciting experience for its players.
The industry shows no sign of slowing down as it is an incredibly competitive market, creating an incentive for brands to keep innovating to stay ahead. So we can expect the ever-changing face of iGaming to change for ever more.
