The online casino industry is on a trajectory that will put it at an estimated $100 billion value by 2025. That’s a consistent 20% Year-over-Year increase that has seen its growth rate more than double over the last 5 years.
Is the growth fueling new innovations and new trends or are the new trends and innovations fueling the growth? No one seems to know but it’s clear that the industry is moving forward at an astounding rate.
Online Casino Gambling 2024
Thanks, in part, to an ever-expanding online casino games variety package, the online casino industry has seen a meteoric rise over the past few years.
An estimated 176 million users worldwide – more than doubling the 2020 number – gamble for money online today. The number includes both casual gamers who play once or twice a week as well as players who use their casino accounts to bet on their games on a daily basis.
The number also includes sports bettors who can now place online bets on sporting events in many countries and in almost half of the United States’ states. Online casinos, excluding sports betting platforms, have grown 110% during that time, from $16.6 billion in 2019 to $34.8 billion at the close of 2023.
The biggest markets are those in the UK, Japan, Germany and the USA but the European and Asian markets are growing as well. Many of the large, well-known Vegas casinos like MGM and Caesars have developed mobile apps that allow punters to play real money games from their homes with all of the amenities of these high-class casinos.
Online Casino Growth
Online casino growth was no surprise to anyone during the COVID era when people were told to “shelter at home.” There was little else to do other than find different opportunities for home entertainment and casino gambling quickly became a favored activity, both for people who had previously played casino games as well as for new gamers.
What no one expected was that the upward trajectory would continue once people were allowed to leave their homes. People had simply discovered that the online casino offered a convenient way to play fun-filled games on a budget and that home gaming gave them an even bigger variety of game choices than they could find elsewhere.
The upward curve that highlights the online casino industry’s growth has given the industry the confidence that it needs to invest in new trends and innovations that will allow that optimistic growth pattern to continue. In coming years, online casino users can look forward to a number of new opportunities including:
Mobile Gaming
The online casino has shifted towards mobile gaming which enables anyone with an Internet-connected mobile device to play any of the casino games at any time, for free or for real money prizes.
All of the games will continue to be available to PC gamers but players want to game on their smartphones or tablets and the online casino wants to make that as easy as possible.
The online platforms are being optimized for mobile users with responsible designs and dedicated mobile apps that work on both Android and iOS systems.
Live Dealer Games
With the introduction of live streaming for gaming enthusiasts, casino gamers have also come to expect that they can participate in the live gaming experience. Casinos are responding by creating Live Dealer platforms where players can interact with Live Dealers, in real time, and play table games like poker, blackjack and roulette in the same kind of atmosphere as they’d enjoy at a brick-and-mortar casino table.
Live Dealer platforms invite players to play against a dealer who is sitting across the casino table from them – digitally. The dealer takes the player’s bet, deals the cards, throws the ball into the roulette wheel and pays out the winnings, all the while chatting directly with the gamer.
Many players find this type of gaming experience to be highly interactive, engaging and as close to a Vegas casino as you can get from the comfort of their own home. More and more casinos are offering this type of experience while still allowing players to play at a high or low betting level, according to their personal preferences.
Virtual Reality
Game designers are starting to experiment with virtual reality casino games which offer a more immersive and lifelike gaming experience. Players who have VR equipment can play their casino games while feeling as though they are in a physical casino environment – all the while, from the comfort of their own home.
Cryptocurrency
As cryptocurrency becomes an increasingly popular method of conducting online financial transactions, online casinos are making it easier for crypto users to make casino deposits and withdraw winnings with crypto.
Crypto is popular among casino users because transfers are instantaneous, fees are lower, currency conversions give better conversion rates than mainstream ebanking transfers and there’s more anonymity.
Casinos also prefer crypto transactions and make it worthwhile for gamers to use cybercurrency by giving crypto users significant bonus deals for their crypto transactions.
Personalization
Online casino users can leverage personalization of tailored promotions, game recommendations and rewards to enjoy a more rewarding gaming event. Many online casinos are integrating their platforms with social media so that players can experience a sense of community to enhance the overall gaming experience.
