The online gambling industry is arguably one of the biggest growth markets in the world and according to Statista is predicted to be worth $92.9 billion by the year 2023.
Over the last couple of years especially, the industry has witnessed unprecedented growth levels, which have been steadily climbing over the last decade.
There have been many different reasons for this, not least clever advancements in technology over the last 10 years which have meant that online casinos have been able to leverage these not only for the benefit of current players but also to acquire new ones.
In addition, you can factor in that new technology has enabled the possibility for new casino sites which have become even easier to create and launch, in fact, a lot easier than 10 years ago.
It could be said that technology has had a positive effect on the growth of most industries, though, without a doubt, online gambling is one that is clearly leading the way. Let’s take a look at how technology has had an effect and the different kinds that online casinos are taking advantage of to build and grow into credible brands.
White Label Technology
When the gambling industry moved online, new casino brands especially had a limited amount of choices which invariably made it a lot harder. They could either code websites themselves or effectively use a software provider such as Microgaming which essentially ruled out the possibility for anyone with just an idea and no financial backing.
Over the last decade though, more and more white label companies have been created, which were brought to the industry with the aim of being a lot more affordable and which gave new brands more options. Essentially, these technologically advanced companies offer new online gambling brands a choice of how much control they would want over the initial development and design of their website. In addition, they would also offer all of the other elements important for online casinos, such as wider online operations like online marketing.
On the whole, over the last couple of years, the vast majority of new online casino brands have been built using white label companies and usually, they are already part of existing online gambling companies who have many different sites across various niches that leverage the efficiency of white label solutions. This makes it a lot more cost-effective for new brands than going down the traditional software provider route.
HTML 5
This is a revolutionary new coding language that has essentially rejuvenated the online gambling industry. Arguably one of the biggest advantages of this that games such as jackpot slots (Divine Fortune, Mega Fortune, etc.) are significantly better from a performance related perspective.
Now, every top online gambling brand, whether this is an operator or software provider uses the HTML 5 coding language and to great effect. Where this has had a radical advantage for the online gambling industry though is in the load time of sites and the fact that visitors no longer have to download additional software to start enjoying online casino games and this has saved a considerable amount of time.
When this was first introduced, the timing could not have been better. The increased advancements in mobile technology meant that the HTML 5 language was perfect for these as smartphones became much more sophisticated for customers. This came at a time when there was a considerable shift towards online gambling players preferring to use mobile devices for their casino experience and the use of HTML 5 made navigation a lot more effective from this perspective.
Machine Learning
While perhaps the online gambling industry took a while to really begin to realise the importance and also the potential that machine learning would have for online casinos, this has since become one of the most fundamental factors for their growth. Machine learning can be applied to many different industries – not least the finance world, however, the online gambling industry has become key.
What this has allowed online casinos to do is apply this to a number of important areas. From a marketing and customer acquisition perspective, the process of machine learning has helped online casinos to be able to better track player preferences based on the games that they are playing on and how long they spend on them and help to create more precise and targeted direct marketing campaigns.
With the data that online casinos are now able to collect from player behaviour, it has meant that those brands who really embrace machine learning are able to better differentiate themselves from their competition, which is a key contributory factor to their yearly revenue.
This is also used within actual slots and games as well because the technology that is used means that games can intelligently process actions by the player which helps online casinos to decide on better marketing strategies when it comes to formulating what bonuses to apply to certain games, based on player behaviour during gameplay.
Final thoughts
There is no doubt that technology will continue to play a major part in the online gambling industry over the next few years as more and more online casinos are developed especially with a focus on new markets and niches. In addition to this, there will inevitably be new forms of technology developed which will benefit an online casino and help to the overall and continued growth of an industry that really is on the rise.
Already we are seeing virtual reality tested at some casinos and it is highly likely that this will become much more mainstream as software providers identify areas where it can really make a difference from a gameplay perspective which will then help to contribute towards better customer retention and acquisition.
Above all, it should be noted that online casinos have come a long way over the last two decades with regards to the abundance of clever technology that is now available.