The online gambling industry has well and truly arrived. The overall market size reached a record $63 billion in 2023, and analysts believe this is only the beginning. Data models suggest the industry will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 10% this decade.
2020 was a landmark year, with regular gamblers unable to visit the land-based casino and opting for online equivalents, and many others decided to play for the very first time.
But once traditional casinos opened their doors once more, they found that a large chunk of their customers would stay loyal to virtual play. Here’s why.
Multiple Methods of Payment
Physical casinos will accept the local currency, that’s pretty much it. If you’re looking to spend Bitcoin or Euros in an American casino, good luck. Not many casinos offer more than a single method of payment.
With online operators, however, you can pick the casino that accepts your money accordingly. Whether you are someone who only transacts in cryptocurrencies online or you want to load up using your old account from when you lived in France, it’s all possible. There are hundreds or even thousands of casinos to choose from!
Casinos are now often also geo-targeted. This means you can pay with your local currency, rather than having to load your accounts using dollars or sterling. For example, casinos based in South Africa not only often accept Bitcoin or USD, but they’ll naturally also process transactions in Rand.
Play Where and When You Like
Does your smartphone have opening and closing times? Exactly. And here’s a bonus: your home doesn’t have a dress code, either. If you want to play in the middle of the night in your PJs, there won’t be a bouncer there to stop you.
Online casinos let you play on your terms, no matter where you are or what time it is. You’re not even bound to play at home. There’s the option of playing on your commute, while you’re waiting for your friend who is always late, or simply when you’re chilling in the park.
Part of the reason that players can now play pretty much anywhere is that we are far more connected. Data speeds like 4/5G are available in many places, and it’s not very expensive to obtain an unlimited data cell phone plan. People can now watch YouTube, send emails, FaceTime, and play online casino games without having to worry about data limits.
Smartphones are also now more common than old-school bricks (although these are also making a mini comeback!), which means players can now generally access games from their phone, rather than having to use a laptop or desktop. The quality of the gameplay does not suffer, as smartphones offer equally solid graphics and processor speeds.
Infinite Number of Games
Okay, this may be a slight exaggeration. Online casinos don’t have an infinite number of games on offer. But it gets pretty darn close. You could play every single day of your life and you’d still find a new game to play, nothing ever gets stale.
With land-based casinos, on the other hand, the titles tend to be similar across the board. You will even find that most casinos have the same games, as they’re all serviced by the same third-party developers. Even the biggest and grandest casinos on the Las Vegas Strip only have a limited number of titles available. And replacing them can be difficult, depending on the machine in question.
With online casinos, you can also move to another operator if you don’t like the selection or would like something fresh. All it takes is just a couple of clicks and you’ll be presented with hundreds of new titles.
With real-life equivalents, it means getting into your car and driving to another location. It’s not exactly convenient, as many cities only have a limited number of gambling options available. In many towns, the only handful of slots available are found in pubs or bars.
Enough is Enough: Time and Money Management Options
Land-based casinos tend to not be worried about an individual player’s losses. If you choose, you can play until your bank account is completely drained.
Online casinos, on the other hand, allow you to set both time and money limits when you play. Many will even give you a warning if you’ve played for more than e.g. 90 minutes. You can allow the casino to only make a single deposit of $100 a day, preventing you from chasing losses, for example.
As you can see, online casinos are simply far more convenient and flexible compared to their land-based counterparts. There are far more games available to play, you can play wherever you want, and there are lots of payment options. In short, online casinos = have ultimate flexibility.
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