Evolution's live roulette service One of the 21st century’s biggest success stories has undoubtedly been the online casino industry’s growth.
The earliest online casino sites were extremely basic affairs, offering players a limited number of games and an underwhelming gameplay experience.
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Fast forward to today, and the significant advancements provided by supporting technology have transformed the landscape.
Recent developments have included the introduction of live casino games, which have elevated online play to a new level.
Predicting how things will progress over the next few years is difficult, particularly with technological advancements impacting the sector swiftly.
With that in mind, we look closely at some of the online casino trends we believe are worth monitoring during the next year.
Playing casino games with cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrencies have been on the verge of having a big impact on online casinos in recent years, but 2023 may be when they finally make the breakthrough.
Plenty of players are already playing at IgnitionCasino.eu poker with Bitcoin, and we anticipate more will jump on the bandwagon over the coming months.
The anonymity offered by cryptocurrency payments and their heightened security levels make them the ideal payment method for online casino players.
Some operators have previously been reluctant to facilitate cryptocurrency payments on their casino sites, but consumer demand will likely force their hands.
Artificial intelligence
Another emerging technology that has long been tipped to shape the future of online casinos is artificial intelligence (AI), and we believe it will make great strides over the next 12 months.
AI is already used by numerous casino operators to enhance elements such as customer service, marketing and other administrative functions.
The technology is also increasingly being used to tackle problem gambling, and we anticipate more operators will head down this road in 2023.
By using data gathered via AI to identify troublesome gambling patterns, operators can root out issues at an early stage to create a safer gambling environment for everyone.
Virtual reality
The supporting hardware has taken a while to live up to expectations, but virtual reality (VR) technology finally looks ready to make a big splash in 2023.
Evolution Gaming has made great strides in VR development over the past few years and have several exciting projects in the pipeline.
They launched the first live casino game offering the option to play in VR mode almost two years ago which received widespread acclaim.
With casino operators eager to find innovative ways to bring new iGaming experiences to their customers, we expect VR to become far more prevalent in 2023.
Privacy-enhancing computation
One of the biggest challenges facing online casino operators is data privacy, particularly in jurisdictions where legislation and regulation are in a state of flux.
A possible solution to resolving the issue is privacy-enhancing computation (PEC) – a combination of three technologies that could significantly impact the casino sector.
In simple terms, PEC enables businesses to collect data and collaborate with other organisations without sharing sensitive information with any other party.
By processing data in a decentralised environment, PEC will help online casinos comply more effectively with data privacy requirements in their region.
Live dealer games to keep evolving
For many dedicated casino players, online games powered by a random number generator (RNG) fail to provide the same thrill as live games.
Operators have sought to tackle this year by introducing live online games, which replicate the excitement and skill level of land-based play in a digital environment.
However, limitations in studio floor space have resulted in most online casinos offering players just a handful of live table games.
We anticipate there will be significant investment ploughed into live games in 2023, which will result in the annual revenues generated rivalling what RNG games produce.
Hybrid GTO poker strategy to boom
Many poker players adopted Game Theory Optimal (GTO) strategy to improve their chances of making a consistent profit from the game.
Primarily a defensive poker system, it uses the frequency methodology to help players cash in on their opponents making imperfect plays.
However, as with many other online poker strategies, GTO has slowly lost its effectiveness as more skilled players have become adept at reading who is using it.
This will likely create a scenario where exponents of GTO implement a hybrid strategy by introducing more deviation into their play.
Online casino trends – the final word
Over the past couple of decades, a feature of the online casino industry has been how quickly new innovations have impacted the industry.
What passed for the norm just a few years ago can already be considered old hat, and we expect the sector to be a fast-moving environment throughout 2023 and beyond.
Simon has held senior content leadership positions at online casinos and sportsbooks for 20+ years. He leads a team of quality writers who produced trusted and authoritative iGaming content for casinos, sportsbooks, poker and bingo sites. Simon is Managing Director of Magic Word Media.
