iGaming or online gaming has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. Currently, this market is valued at around 60 billion dollars worldwide, and it’s expected to double by 2023.
Several factors have driven this colossal increase in the popularity of online gaming.
What’s Driving the Increase in iGaming Popularity?
Various factors are driving the popularity of iGaming. Firstly is the ubiquitous mobile device. These have become commonplace, and the gaming sites have not been slow to climb on board. Players can take their mobile device to a game and place bets while watching the action, which is very appealing to many gamblers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly played its part in the past couple of years. Many parts of the world have been through several lockdowns, and as gamers have been forced to stay at home, they have turned to their online devices to play. This introduced millions of new players to the online space. A good percentage of those have chosen to stay as fears of new variants of the virus surface with monotonous regularity.
Next is probably comfort. Many gamblers find it very comfy to play from home, especially as winter sets in. It’s difficult to pry a gamer out of their warm home to face a chilly drive to the casino, pay for parking and then brave the crowds inside. They would rather crack open a beer, hunker down on the couch in front of the fire and play in the comfort of their own home.
According to a report on gambling statistics published by casino.org, female gamblers account for 40% of the gambling activity reported by the United Kingdom. Casumo is a favourite in the UK. For many women, going out alone to a casino is an unpleasant experience, and fear will drive many to favour gaming from the safety of their homes.
So, Is the Online World a Threat to the Land-based Casino?
The online world is a threat to the number of customers that walk through the doors of physical casinos, but it isn’t a threat to the profits of these organisations.
The gambling industry has made great strides in keeping up with the technological advances of the online world. All the large gambling organisations with land-based casinos also have a highly attractive online presence.
This means they enjoy the best of both worlds. The land-based casino offers many benefits such as live entertainment, high-end dining, and opportunities to win holidays. Access to these benefits is provided through bonuses or online promotions. These promotions tempt online players in the online world and they accrue land-based benefits. This is a win-win situation for large gaming enterprises.
The pure online gaming enterprises have to up their game to compete with their land-based competitors. This competition gives the online gamer some mouthwatering bonuses and promo opportunities.
Conclusion
It’s difficult to argue against the gaming industry being the fastest growing entertainment segment of the online world. As technology advances and it becomes easier to integrate many entertainment streams into one app, casinos up their game to tempt players.
Predicting how this will pan out in the future is difficult, but it’s unlikely that the large, sophisticated casinos will curl up and die in the face of competition from their online competitors. Tight integration between the two will continue to be formulated, and the winner, in the end, is the customer.
