Modern Gambling Business: Industry Tendencies in 2022

Gambling Craft estimates that soon, the share of digital casinos will increase by more than 7%, with the largest rise coming from the European market.

Analysts predict not only the active growth of online traffic but also the massive introduction of non-standard business cases and high-tech trends into the industry.

The Rosloto team has prepared a list of the most promising innovations that can take the gambling sphere to a whole new level. Our experts will advise how to open an online casino of the future in record time and with minimal risk.

Mobile Gaming Platforms

According to the reports of the European Gambling Association, in 2020, mobile traffic brought online operators 45.6% of the total annual revenue.

Experts expect a further increase in indicators:

• up to 50.8% of turnover in 2021–2022;
• up to 58.2% of traffic by 2025.

In addition to the general rise in mobile traffic, there is also a trend towards an increase in the amount of time spent in the game.

Positive dynamics are due to such factors:

• accessibility of technology;
• improved performance of mobile devices;
• enhanced usability characteristics;
• the capacity to use casino software regardless of the internet connection quality.

Another factor in favour of organising a mobile gaming project is the possibility of promoting casino games through Google Play stores. Google has allowed operators to legally provide gambling services in 19 states.

VR Technologies in Gambling

For the first time, VR casino software was introduced in 2015 by the SlotsMillion organisation.

The company decided to radically change the idea of ​​traditional gambling and offered its customers:

• walks around the casino hall;
• ability to visit different game zones;
• channels of communication not only with other participants of the session but also with the staff of the hall (from croupiers to bartenders);
• a 360-degree all-round view with the opportunity to see the interior of the establishment and enjoy the landscapes from the windows.

In 2016, a similar product was released by the Microgaming corporation. The developer introduced virtual roulette, which became the innovation of the year at the ICE Totally Gaming exhibition.

Now VR games are in the catalogues of almost all major industry providers. At the Rosloto studio, you can buy a casino with virtual reality elements from such industry flagships:

• Microgaming;
• NetEnt;
• Casexe;
• NextGen Gaming, and others.

By the end of 2022, the VR and AR markets are expected to expand significantly. The volume of the industry will increase by 55%, with more than 80% of the turnover coming from the iGaming segment.

Cloud Technologies in the Gambling Industry

Digital casinos operate with a huge amount of personal data and are required to ensure maximum protection of information and its safe storage.

The traditional solution for information transmission/storage is hosting or internet servers with a remote technical base. But in recent years, the gambling business has begun to reorient itself towards cloud technologies. This approach not only guarantees the maximum efficiency of working with information flows but also reduces the financial burden on the project. The investor no longer needs to buy physical servers.

Cloud technologies allow the processing and storing of huge amounts of data. The capacity of one gambling project or a network of companies is not enough to independently create and maintain such a system. Therefore, to organise cloud storage, data centres are used, which are specialised buildings for accommodating computer and network equipment.

The largest international concerns, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc., take part in the production and development of data centres. In 2019 alone, more than $30 billion was invested in cloud storage technology, and in the first quarter of 2020, the number of investments rose another 7%.

Advantages of using cloud technologies in the field of iGaming:

1. Saving resources. The entire information array of the enterprise is stored on a leased server, so the operator does not need to spend money on the purchase of expensive equipment and allocate funds for its maintenance.
2. Improving the efficiency of digital infrastructure. Cloud computing eliminates the problem of unnecessary resource costs. According to statistics, physical servers are only 15% loaded. As a result, the equipment is almost constantly idle. Cloud storage allows operators to use only the amount of resources they need, reducing company costs by more than 50%.
3. Tool flexibility. The resources of a cloud provider are more powerful and efficient than those of traditional stationary equipment. The high manufacturability of the system and a large selection of adaptive settings make it possible to use clouds not only for storing data but also for simultaneously performing several operations for information processing.
4. Unlimited storage. Clouds are configured to meet the needs of the enterprise and automatically eliminate the problem of limited hard drives. The system gives access to millions of gigabytes of free space, and the storage can be expanded an unlimited number of times.
5. Availability of cloud services. Any device with internet access is suitable for working with remote storage. Cloud servers are not tied to a specific location — information flows can be interacted with from anywhere in the world.
6. Guarantees of stable work. Several different scenarios for disaster recovery are built into cloud storage: backup, data transfer to additional servers, etc. Plus, a casino operator receives a set of technical and customer services, saving on the organisation of its support team.

Updated Responsible Gaming Guidelines

These are a set of measures aimed at combating gambling addiction and preventing people who are prone to obsession from getting involved in the field.

Ludomania (gambling addiction) was officially recognised as a psychological disorder and included in the International Classification of Diseases in 2018.

The task of an operator is to work following the principles of responsible gambling and provide any possible assistance to addicted users. This is needed to ensure the protection of customers from possible negative consequences of gaming for money.

Due to the rapid growth of online casino traffic during the pandemic, many states have tightened the rules for controlling gambling operators and introduced new standards for responsible gaming:

1. Visit time restrictions. The administration of the site of slot machines can independently set the mode of operation or provide its clients with tools to control the session: clock icons, internal settings filters in the account, etc.
2. Self-exclusion programs. A punter can contact the casino support service and leave a request for blocking the account for a certain period, or restraining betting limits.
3. User spending control. If the launch of a casino business is regulated by European offshores (for example, the UK, Belgium, and Sweden), the operator must set fixed daily and monthly limits. The new rate control policy came into effect in the second quarter of 2020 and will last until the quarantine restrictions are completely lifted.
4. Open access to data about organisations that help fight against addiction. On the main page of a slot machine site or in a special information section, contacts should be indicated for communication with rehabilitation centres, psychologists and other institutions that help in the fight against gambling addiction. Such organisations are widespread in Europe, Canada, Australia and other legal markets.

The Main Things about iGaming Trends of 2022

The online casino sphere is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, on the basis of which the most promising IT trends are clearly visible.

• Gambling operators have to work according to the new rules of responsible gaming. With the massive growth of the digital sector, many regulatory bodies have introduced additional industry controls. These include time limits on slot machine sites and enhanced programs to regulate user spending.
• The online industry is massively moving to the cloud. Remote digital repositories provide virtually unlimited amounts of storage and greatly reduce the cost of purchasing and maintaining an enterprise's server equipment.
• The share of mobile traffic for the first time exceeded the volume of desktop requests. Buying a mobile casino is one of the most promising investment options. Moreover, an operator can organise the work in two formats: in the form of an adaptive version of the site or a downloadable application.

The Rosloto team is always up to date with industry trends and offers a wide range of solutions for projects of any format.

We propose:

• turnkey casinos with built-in chatbots;
• games with VR and AR effects;
• live content;
• eSports event lines;
• mobile slots;
• Bitcoin platforms, and more.