Once upon a time, gambling was a risky activity associated with smoke-filled backrooms and gangster-run illegal sportsbooks. That time is long gone, and modern players don’t have to look too far to find a perfectly safe and fair operator to accept their bets. Thanks to the arrival of legal online and mobile gambling platforms, playing roulette for real money is now just as easy as logging in for a League of Legends match. This transformation happened in such a short time that it was easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention, but iGaming industry doesn’t seem to be looking back.
It’s hard to argue that the changes weren’t for the better. Let’s look into some of the most obvious advantages brought about by the latest evolution of the online gaming space.
Instant Access to Thousands of Games
The volume as well as quality of content on iGaming sites continues to rise very rapidly. You can find a huge amount of slots on every platform, ranging from fan-favourites like Sweet Bonanza or Gates of Olympus to brand new titles nobody knows about yet. It’s more or less the same with table games, which are available with a wide variety of rule sets, as well as progressive jackpots and bingo games. Better websites also offer dozens of live dealer games, which are very popular at the moment and could account for an even larger share of game collections in the future. In effect, players have access to far more games than they can reasonably try out, making it more important than ever to do some research beforehand and identify the titles worth spending time and money on.
Better Gameplay with Exciting New Features
It’s not just the quantity of games on casino websites that stands out – the games are more diversified than ever and come with an array of exciting new features that make the gameplay more strategic. There are countless new takes on classic games like roulette or blackjack, with some of them being available with live dealers. Slots in particular are very conducive to innovation, so it’s very common to encounter extra reels, special symbols, multipliers, mini-games, and a bunch of other additions that were absent from the original one-handed machines. While you could argue that all this makes the games needlessly more complex and difficult to learn, in the aggregate the players are better off when they have more options. Those who prefer simple games can still find legacy games in their original form, but players who enjoy experimentation are well-served too.
Competing Directly Against Other Players
Perhaps the biggest downside of online casinos is that they can feel depersonalised, and beating a random number generator simply isn’t as much fun as winning against real people. iGaming companies are aware of this, and are working to introduce social features to their platforms such as leaderboards, friends lists, live chat windows, etc. On some websites there is the possibility to participate in tournaments remotely, which gives you a chance to test your skill against worthy opponents. Gaming platforms look more and more like social networks, and this process is making them more pleasurable to interact with. Since players are more likely to stay on the same website if they feel they are a part of a community, the providers have all the reasons to let them hang out together.
Generous Loyalty Programs and Bonuses
Even when you lose at an online gambling site, you still gain something. That’s because these platforms reward their most active players in a variety of ways, from direct cashback at the end of the week to valuable gifts and perks distributed through the loyalty program. Recurring bonuses are another way to refill your coffers and continue playing, although you might need to meet some conditions in order to collect the maximum amount. The value you can get by piling up on freebies is considerable, and can be translated into money in your pocket if you play your cards right. Smart players study the available promo offers at a gaming website before joining, and then optimise their activity so they can play for free as much as possible.
Simple and Fast International Money Transfers
One of the key priorities for the iGaming industry was to develop fast and reliable mechanisms for moving money in and out of players’ accounts while eliminating any possibility of theft or fraud. They partnered with credit card companies and digital payment services to make this possible with just a few clicks. More recently, gambling websites are introducing crypto payments, which are even faster and more difficult to intercept by hackers. On the flip side, gaming platforms are under increasing pressure to meet high standards when it comes to preventing financial shenanigans and in most cases require photo ID before they approve the transactions. A better regulated financial flow that doesn’t force the players to wait for routine transfers sounds like the best of both worlds, and represents a huge departure from the insecurity that marked the early era on online gambling.
