What’s next for classic online games like blackjack

Rewind to the beginning of the millennium and video games like Paper Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Counter Strike could be found in many households across Ireland. These games were usually played on a PlayStation, or a computer monitor where the experience was limited by the quality of the tech it was played on.

Back then, no one would have thought that come 2021, we would be able to play online casino games using a Virtual Reality headset to make it seem like the player is standing inside the casino. Gaming has come a long way over the past two decades, yet the digital revolution continues to transform the gaming experience. 

Below, we’ll take a look at how digital technology is transforming online casino games like blackjack.

An increasingly competitive industry

As of 2018, there were over 2,800 active online casino sites operating around the world. Considering the online market is globally accessible, this creates a huge amount of pressure for players to choose which casino to play at, but even more pressure for online casino players to win and retain customers.

As a result, the industry has become highly competitive with online casinos constantly looking for ways to innovate in order to keep players coming back for more. From generous sign-up bonuses to free spins and mini bonus games, each provider is battling it out on the online stage, and online blackjack is no exception to this. 

The innovation of online blackjack and other popular casino games

 

 

Today, it’s no longer enough to offer a standard popular casino game like blackjack or roulette. Instead, providers must come up with new ways to make the gaming experience more interactive and entertaining than other providers. 

Online blackjack is one of those games where technology has transformed the gaming experience to offer some of the following benefits:

 

  • More variety – Some of the best online casinos offer many different varieties of blackjack with differing stakes to cater to every players’ needs. 

 

  • Bonuses – Online casinos often offer generous sign up bonuses or offer free cash to encourage new players to test out a site without having to commit. This is something you wouldn’t find in a brick and mortar casino and is ideal for newer players. 

 

  • Accessibility – Playing blackjack, slots or roulette online means players can access their favourite game from anywhere with a decent Wi-Fi connection, at any time of day or night. There’s no need to plan ahead, simply open the app to play while on the morning commute or simply from the comfort of your sofa one evening at home. 

 

  • Security – As technology has developed, so too have online transactions. It’s now safer than ever to make payment transfers online. What’s more, transfers are usually quick and relatively easy, whether withdrawing money or depositing it. 

The future of online gaming

 

 

While we’ve already seen a dramatic uptake in the number of online casino players in recent years, technology continues to innovate the online gaming experience. Below are some of the technologies we will see emerging over the next few years to come. 

Cloud hosting

Just like the movie industry has transitioned to online streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, the gaming industry is now doing the same with the likes of Google Stadia, Amazon Luna and Xbox Cloud Gaming services. 

Games hosted on cloud platforms look exactly like a game that has been downloaded to a console, only they’re more easy to access from anywhere in the world and on a variety of different devices, they have a faster streaming speed and they don’t require players to create masses of memory available on their hardware to save the game. 

Social gaming

One thing we’ve learnt from the past year is that people need to be able to connect in different ways. Many games now offer multiplayer modes where players can join live games together and compete with other players from across the world. Games like COD and FIFA are excellent examples of this, even enabling players to chat while they’re playing.

Online games are also becoming better integrated with social media, in which aspects like screenshot or recording mode are becoming more common so that players can live stream or share their game on platforms like YouTube or Twitch. 

More ways to make payments

Not only are online payments becoming safer, but they’re also becoming much more user friendly. Online wallets like PayPal mean that players can make a withdrawal or deposit within seconds, without having to enter lots of payment card details, while options like crypto payments are becoming much more common. 

Crypto payments enable players to pay with crypto currency like Bitcoin. As cryptocurrencies rely on blockchain technology rather than a centralised bank, the payment method is much more anonymous. They’re also much faster compared to traditional payment options that require approval from the bank. 

Overall, the online casino industry has come an incredibly long way since the days of Zelda and Mario Kart. As technologies have become more affordable and accessible to countries around the world, more and more people are opting to play their favourite casino games online. 

These games are continuing to innovate; becoming more interactive for players in the way video games offer entertainment. While we’re already benefiting from the likes of VR technology, social gaming and themes slots, there’s no sign of the innovation slowing down any time soon.