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How Will New Technologies Impact Mobile Gaming?

Mobile gaming has become an overwhelming slice of the gaming industry pie, accounting for 45% of its total value in 2019 and only growing since then to an estimated $86bn worldwide.

Various gaming providers including those in the online casino industry have seen this rise in popularity and have needed to adapt and react to it, making their mobile services more comprehensive and engaging year-on-year. Many mobile providers recognised the importance of mirroring the land-based casino experience onto a digital device and created new features to keep mobile casinos popular. An example of one of those features is the live casino, a feature created by casino providers to keep the social element at an online casino. A live casino is used for games such as blackjack and roulette, where real-life dealers interact and deal out cards and chips.

For those unaware, mobile gaming is playing games on your smartphone, which is also the case for mobile casinos, and with the vast majority of people in developed countries owning one of these devices, it is no wonder this type of gaming continues to boom in popularity.

One of the key drivers behind the popularity of a mobile casino is convenience. Some casino card games like poker can take hours to finish, and it is not always possible or reasonable to sit at your computer the whole time. So, being able to keep an eye on the game on your phone makes life a lot easier. You can bring it with you while you get other things done, or while you are on the move. You do not need to visit a brick-and-mortar casino or access a virtual one on your computer; now you have one in your pocket and it’s available at any time.

This, in turn, exposes these games to a wider audience. Previous misconceptions about casinos are more easily debunked as more people are able to experience and see what it is really like.

As mentioned, it is a lot easier to dip into a mobile casino game than it is to actually go and visit a real-life casino and sit down at a table. This has made not just mobile casinos, but casino games in general, a lot more popular.

Casino games are a lot easier to access via a mobile phone rather than heading to a land based casino

Of course, this rapid rate of growth would not be possible without advancements in technology, and this is arguably the most impactful development behind the rise of popularity for mobile casinos and games.

It is now a lot easier to play these games on your mobile, mainly through apps, which have been optimised for mobile gaming. This has led to the development of many more mobile casino games, meaning there is something for everyone.

As these games get more popular, they receive more investment and so are constantly improving, making the experience for gamers and punters even more enjoyable and immersive.

Importantly, internet connections are now a lot more stable and significantly faster than they used to be, which has been essential to the growth of mobile casinos, as these typically require an internet connection.

With 5G now being rolled out worldwide, people can access these games more quickly on the move without the need for Wi-Fi.

The roll out of 5G on many mobile devices can help speed up game loading times.

So, it stands to reason that new technologies will continue to have a strong impact on mobile casino games. We are already seeing this with the deployment of live-play mobile casinos.

Instead of playing against a computer or AI, you are involved in a real-time casino game populated by real people also playing on their phones - even the dealer is human. This closely replicates what you would experience in a real casino, but from the convenience of your phone.

This also helps to create something of a community for mobile casino games, as players are interacting with other players and sharing their enjoyment and passion.

Some of the most exciting technological developments that are being introduced into gaming are virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

VR is when you wear some sort of headset with a screen over your eyes that projects a virtual setting, which you can then move around and interact with.

AR is using a camera to impose virtual elements onto the real world that your camera is capturing.

It is easy to see how VR could be implemented to online casinos. Players could be transported to a fully fleshed-out casino setting without leaving their home and can play their hands as if they were actually holding cards.

This would be incredibly immersive and could take mobile casino games to the next level. Likewise, AR technology could superimpose visual elements into people’s surroundings to make them seem more like a casino, to make the game more engaging.

Cloud gaming technology is also becoming more mainstream and while it has not been used for online casinos yet, it could be impactful. Essentially, it is the process of streaming a game to your device over the internet, rather than downloading and installing it.

Not only would this add convenience, but it would also streamline the process for players and reduce loading times.

Mobile casinos have reaped the benefits of advancing technologies for years now and look set to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As cutting-edge developments in tech become more widely available, these games can innovate and enhance the experience for their players.

This will surely help the industry grow even more as these games increase their popularity and exposure.