Out with the old and in with the new! It’s the scenario that’s been facing, well everything, since the dawn of man. In these times it’s more about adaptation than moving on, changing to meet the needs of your customers. But with the pandemic continuing to disrupt our way of life, it’s more prevalent than ever this year.
When it comes to casinos, we love them! We love the buzz, the commotion, that electricity of constant excitement. But are our beloved casinos in Nova Scotia going to come out of all this, or be a further victim of COVID-19? We won’t know until it happens but certainly the trend has been veering more and more to that of its online counter-part.
Online Casino Sites vs Traditional Land-based Casinos
The main thing going for an online casino is convenience. At Canada’s leading casino portal www.casinopilot.ca there are a massive number of online casino sites displayed. This clearly tells you something about the absurd competition that is going on.
And when you look at so many other examples, it’s all going the same way. No one goes to the movie theatre anymore, they watch Netflix. Newspapers are out, news websites are in. Even dating is becoming more popular from the safety of your screen. Convenience is the common denominator of them all.
To say that online casinos are out performing land-based right now, is obvious. The majority of traditional casinos are closed, or in best case scenario open with strict regulations like Casino Nova Scotia. But it will be very interesting how things pan out post-COVID, and it must be extremely anxious times for those who have invested.
The trends over the last couple years already had the online world growing, and at an incredible rate, with brick and mortar casinos actually dipping. It’s a shame, going to a casino used to be an event, something for special occasions and something you would talk about for days after. Now, it’s every night for many, and gambling in your dressing gown just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
How Technology is Shaping the Future
The sole aim for software developers is to re-create the feeling of the casino, the true essence of what made it appealing, for the online world. The hardest thing to re-create is surely atmosphere, that buzz. And the day that they crack it, is the nail in the coffin.
Slowly but surely, they are inching their way closer. It started with better graphics, authentic sounds and the original art of the slots. Faster speeds has really helped to keep us motivated, as has a more fluent platform to play on. Then live casinos kicked in and people started to really notice. The key was communication, immersion and that feeling of being included.
Virtual reality is really taking things to a level where people cannot just communicate but do it the old fashion way. You can pull on the slot machine level, throw in your chips, actually place the bet on the table. All whilst you’re surrounded by other players who you can hear and talk to. It literally describes a local land-based casino, minus the smell, which is maybe a good thing.
Where the Future is Heading
Well, without our crystal ball, it’s hard to put a date on things. But if we forget about the when and concentrate on the what, we are going to see gambling switch to exclusively online, 100%. It’s losing its charm and charisma, and it’s being replaced by a little lack of social acceptance. Many people don’t care that it’s not a social event anymore, and are happy to play behind closed doors.
So as this increases, players will just seek other ways to be social with their everyday friends, and gambling will be kept to their online friends. And that’s not to say it will decrease in popularity, far from it. Online gambling could easily double in the next decade. It’s just changing and both developers and management are adapting perfectly to keep up.
Every year we see further advancements in not just the game but the device, the hardware. As this increases, the ease and speed of which we can play is streamlined and soon we will be gambling on our smart watch, without even really noticing what’s going on. Limits will be set, games played and we’ll keep half an eye on it, but not much more.
We’ll still get the excitement, the rush, but will we really be having any fun? And more importantly, will we even notice or actually care? It’s a funny old world, and we’ll just have to wait and see.