We have come a long way from gambling with stones in Senet, in Egypt 3100BC, to live-dealer blackjack at popular sites like Jackpotcity casino in 2020.
The significant progress in innovation dominated the last 40 years. The 1970s saw people limited to board and card or arcade games as their only entertainment source. Through the ‘80s and ‘90s, consoles made their transitions from arcades into homes. The 2000s saw the boom in hand-held devices. Twenty years into a very young millennium, our favorite pastimes are just finger-strokes away.
The gambling sector has transformed. It has gone from exclusive brick and mortar social houses to online access. Thanks to video and AI technology, even live-dealer Blackjack games are playable via the internet.
We talk to Michelle Thomas, whose profile you can view here, about tech’s role in iGaming.
What is iGaming
The term iGaming or Internet Gambling is the process or activity of placing a bet on an online outcome. The outcomes of these web-based activities testify more to chance than skill. The latter includes anything from horse racing to slots and roulette.
Online casinos and sports betting dominate the market at this point. This expansion is to the credit of the steady advance in iGaming technologies.
As we all can imagine, this is an offshoot of the gambling industry. The iGaming enterprise today owes its progress to the advancement of the internet.
There are online options where there is no currency involved, nor do they count as iGaming. Replicas of these that need no monetary wagers are referred to as “Social Casino Games.”
Since its appearance, iGaming hubs have emerged throughout the world. Due to permissive gambling laws, the biggest of these reside in The UK, Malta, Gibraltar and Curaçao.
For operators throughout the market, this sector of business has proved lucrative. It is a growing industry. Many are trying to get a piece of the pie. iGaming is a living testimony to the impact of technology on games.
A Brief History of Gaming
Antigua and Barbuda was the first country to legalize online gambling. They passed the free trade and processing act in 1994.
It took almost a year for entrepreneurs to capitalize on this. But, by 1995, hundreds of online casinos opened up offering their services to gamblers in other jurisdictions.
It was during this year that Microgaming developed the first-ever gaming software. Its invention was a historical event in iGaming technologies.
1996 saw the birth of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Mohawk territory of Kahnawake, Canada. The purpose of this entity was for the licensing of iGaming worldwide. It was in this year that the InterCasino debuted online, accepting real money as wagers.
In 1998 Microgaming launched the first-ever online slot called “Cash splash.” The same year also saw the launching of the first Online Poker game. Little did we know, but “Planet-Poker.” would be the first of many.
By the year 2000, the iGaming hubs came to be. The recorded 8 million users worldwide justifying their existence. This industry’s income passed two billion American dollars.
There has been exponential growth in the online industries. The relevant technology in gaming is what paves the way for expansion and innovation. As a result of this, the iGaming industry forecast projects 159 billion USD by the end of 2020.
The Influence of Tech on Gaming
Artificial Intelligence
AI is the largest factor in the shaping of iGaming innovations, as we see them today.
Thus far, its capabilities have played a large role in the mobile adaptions to online gaming. Its data gathering abilities have helped operators and developers anticipate the markets. Furthermore, it has played a primary role in online security in a world fraught with cybercrime.
AI is well on its way to becoming the culmination of software and hardware technologies throughout the computer spectrum.
Smart Phones
Stemming from the principle of AI are smartphones with all the capabilities of a computer and more. These little devices have determined the tech business’s growth. Every entrepreneur wants to bring out a mobile phone app. On these, trillions of data packets are gathered for analysis. The accumulated information gets processed into market projections daily.
Payment Technology
Smartphones’ payment technology is more straightforward and quicker than any physical transaction. The credit card scanners, mobile banking, and digital wallets like PayPal and Neteller are all tech innovations. The latter is what has expedited the growth iGaming to the level it operates on today.
Conclusion
The Gaming industry is a vibrant one forever demanding growth and creativity. The users wowed initially, but quickly bored, have an insatiable appetite for new technology. Tech trends are quickly leading the world into a new era of things once deemed make-belief.
