More people are gambling now than ever before. More than 4 billion people gamble at least once every year in one form or another. This adds up to more than $400 billion spent on gambling, with $50 billion of that money being spent through online casinos and other digital games.
And the growth of online betting doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down any time soon. The decreasing price of technology and continued digital casino innovations allow more and more people to spend time and money in online casinos.
One game that is synonymous with casinos, online and offline, are slot machines. Slot machines and slot games make up a large percentage of casino games in the digital and physical realms. While many timeless casino games have stayed the same for decades, slots are continually changing and shifting with the times. Here are just a few examples of how slot machines have evolved into the digital era.
Welcome bonuses
Back in the days before digital slot games, when physical machines were the only option, the only money that players took away with them was direct winnings from the machine. In the world of online gaming, the opportunities to earn have expanded.
Nowadays, online casinos offer various types of bonus. Many casinos focus their efforts on giving away tempting welcome offers to attract people to their sites, and many are angled towards slots machines. These welcome bonuses often take the form of free spins – some of which don’t even require you to deposit any money like the ones in this article, win percentage multipliers, and often free lump sums of cash after a certain amount of spins or wins.
Other bonuses include referral bonuses, cashback, and numerous reoccurring promotions and giveaways. In addition to house bonuses, many digital machines now feature multiple pay lines, giving players more opportunity to win.
Gamification
Gamification is a word that is everywhere in modern online casinos, and slot machines were amongst the first games to feel the effects. Essentially, gamification is the use of video game models and gimmicks in casino games. The early signs of the gamification of slot machine were the introduction of video animations and bonus rounds on separate screens.
Since then, the gamification of slot machines has increased dramatically. Some features that have been borrowed from the world of video games include leaderboards and missions based accomplishments. More recently, the introduction of RPG style game elements has taken gambling to a new level, with in-game collectables, power-ups and even boss battles making their way into slot games.
Better visuals
The first slot machines invented used real physical playing cards on rotating drums. To win, players had to make poker hands from the cards on the drums. In the digital age, slot machines and casinos in general, have come a long way from these humble beginnings.
As technology has advanced, so have slot machines. Slot machines visuals use 3D-modeled characters and state of the art animations to keep players entertained. Slot machines often have more than one screen, with multiple playing styles and countless different bonus games built-in.
Even sports betting has been influenced by the rapid improvement in computer graphics and photo-realistic animation. Virtual sports is growing to be as big as real sports better. Virtual sports are now almost indistinguishable from the real thing, and players are less inclined to be put off by the clunky visuals of the past. The advantage here is that players do not have to wait for real fixtures or events to start; they can bet on real-looking sports played out by powerful computer algorithms.
Virtual reality
Virtually reality is the next big thing in video gaming, and the gambling industry isn’t far behind. Online casinos have been focusing on virtual reality gaming for years now, and in 2015, Casino Billions was launched.
VR is a real gamechanger for casinos and the people who use them. Many people predict that virtual reality is the future for online casino games, especially slots. The opportunities that VR opens are endless. Not only gameplay will be revolutionized, but the social aspect of slots will be massively affected. Traditionally slot machines were very much an individual game, but the introduction of VR will encourage players to interact with each other and even cooperate to climb up bonus boards and maximize earnings.
