How Did Technology Transform the Gambling Industry?
There is no doubt that technology is the most important thing that humans have created. It can be argued that this is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom and many would argue that human progress can be measured by the level of technology we currently possess. The last century was arguably the most revolutionary in all recorded human history as this is when the internet was created. To imagine a world without the internet now is hard, as it has infiltrated our very lives. Of course, this isn’t a bad thing, and advances in technology have also massively impacted industry as well.
Whilst most industries will use technology in some capacity, there is no doubt that gambling is a great example of an industry that has been forever changed by developing technology. One must only cast their minds backwards and look at how people used to gamble in the past. If players got the urge to hit the slot machines, they would have to get in their cars and travel down to the local casino to play. For some, this wouldn’t have even been feasible depending on their location. Today, it is incredibly easy to access real money online slots as people must only reach into their pockets and pull out their phones if they want to start gambling.
Although the advances of technology we have observed are extremely useful they come at the expense of some other things. In the gambling industry, physical casinos and betting shops are the establishments that have suffered. These places used to be the seat of gambling and they would be where people would frequent if they were looking to win money. Now, stepping inside one of these places is like observing a relic of the past. Everything that is inside these buildings is accessible online, calling into question the necessity of travelling to traditional gambling venues. Of course, the real-life experience is better than the online one, but even this is being addressed by advances in technology.
Many people will be aware of the rise of live casinos, which are essentially a hybrid of traditional and online casinos. They work by streaming a video of various casino games to a user’s computer, and they also utilise human dealers too. This takes the RNG element out of online gambling and mimics the experience that players would receive in a normal casino, which is why it is preferred by many players. Live casinos represent how technology is changing gambling, but there are also more innovations the industry has experienced.
Virtual reality is an exciting new technology, but most gamers will be surprised that it has applications outside gaming. In gambling, the technology is being utilised to create VR casinos, which can be thought of as the evolution of live casinos. VR casinos seek to recreate the real-life gambling experience as accurately as possible, and while they are starting to pop up on the internet, they are still in their infancy.
It should now be clear how advances in technology have transformed the gambling industry for good, and many other industries have experienced the same kind of change. As gambling and technology are now linked, gambling will likely never become stale as there will always be new technology to implement.