You don’t have to be Einstein to imagine that, due to the arrival of the internet, the gambling industry has transformed and experienced massive growth.

The online sphere is particularly huge. Statistics show that the market is set to grow to $196 billion in 2022.

As you may or may not have expected, mobile gaming is massive. In fact, in 2019, it was the biggest segment, and 2.4 billion people played mobile games that year.

Gambling in the UK

Perhaps it will come as little surprise that in the UK, where gambling has long been legal and operators have enjoyed immense freedom, gambling is popular.

The nation’s gambling population comprises roughly 24 million people. Approximately half of these people bet online, leaving an awful lot of people betting the old school way.

Remote gambling is the nation’s most popular sector, but offline betting has still witnessed success in some sectors. In the period between March 2019 and April 2020, ticket sales for the National Lottery jumped from £696.4 million to £7.9 billion, whereas, unfortunately, on-course, off-course and pool betting wavered slightly.

In spite of a decline, land-based casinos still generated a gross gambling yield of £1 billion and non-remote bingo managed one of £635 billion.

How online has helped the industry grow

Non-remote gambling operators may feel slightly aggrieved by the explosion in popularity of remote gambling. At the same time, however, ventures into the online sphere have provided another source of income for operators that can see them through harder times.

The arrival of mobile technology has been a game changer, allowing a tech-loving generation to play wherever they want and whenever they want. No longer are players a slave to their desktop.

The variety of payment methods has also helped. It’s not just about accessibility, however, but also about trust. Online gambling operators offer secure ways to pay. The use of fintech such as digital wallets means that players don’t have to supply financially sensitive details. They can make payments through PayPal, merely by providing their email and linking it to their account with the online gambling operator.

That being said, online operators do employ complex cybersecurity which is incredibly difficult to crack. They’re well aware of the temptation they may pose to cybercriminals.

Online gambling operators ensure customers data is safe and protected by using various trusted e-wallet payment providers.

Casino games and tech

The advancement of tech has powered online casinos to the win and offer an experience ever closer to playing in a non-remote casino. Thanks to the arrival of 4G and the on-going rollout of 5G, casinos can offer a more interactive experience and stream live games into the player’s home.

The casinos use high-quality technology to enable the player to enjoy games in real time, with a live dealer as the host. The combination of tech quality and the solid internet connection mean players can play without the game buffering and causing annoyance.

Many online gambling providers have live casino games so players can enjoy games in real-time.

Then there’s the variety of games. There’s so much choice. You can play the more strategic games, such as Texas Hold’em poker or other variations of poker, or if you just want something fun and easy to play, you can log in and just play on some roulette, blackjack or try your luck on the online slots.

Slots may be a form of leisure, but you’ll be surprised how much money slot machine makes a casino operator. Although you don’t know realise it, as you’re just popping in a few coins, the average slot machine earns a Vegas operator $226 a day. Of course, that’s just on average. Some casinos will rake in a lot more than that from each machine.

Why are online casinos more popular than land-based ones?

Naturally, greater accessibility has been a big factor, but there are plenty of other reasons.

Privacy is one. You can play in the comfort of their own homes and not feel any pressure to gamble more than you wish to. If you happen to lose, who’s going to know? If you happen to win, you can feel safe you’ll receive a transfer to your bank account and not have to carry the cash on you.

Not only this, but you can also play as slow or as fast as you like. If you were in a remote casino, you might have to play slower or faster than you’d like it to be. Between this and the privacy you have, by playing online, you give yourself the opportunity to make better decisions when placing your bets.

There’s also the sheer convenience. You don’t have to queue. You can just sit down to an available game and get going. You can also play at any time, rather than have to leave or enter when the casino says so, which could be when you’re on a winning streak!

One other possible reason is the lack of taxation on winnings… at least in the UK. Rather than hit the players in the pockets, the Government taxes the operators (but operators may look for other ways to pass on some of these charges to customers).

There are no two ways about it: online gambling is popular. A combination of convenience, variety and solid tech has really helped online gaming to take off. With this being a field in which operators are constantly following the latest trends, it will be interesting to see what happens next.