Online gambling services are more popular than they’ve ever been as they continue to pull in huge numbers and new users flock to the biggest services – whether this come from traditional games available at online casinos or through some betting sites not on gamstop, online services are certainly thriving. But what is it that has taken online gambling services from an untrusted online playing option to one of the most popular gaming genres in the world, and do things look to continue to grow?
Perhaps the most impactful change has simply been within accessibility over time, early versions of online casinos whilst may have just been through basic websites may have had a lot of hoops to jump through just to play, and there was no guarantee that the site you were playing on was safe at the time too – it has become much easier now, licensing numbers are prominently displayed on the biggest sites and it can be as simple as submitting photo ID and you can start playing within just a few minutes, combined with sites being optimised for mobile it now means you can simply open your browser on your mobile and start playing. With the potential promise that online gambling could find increasing representation through different mobile apps too, this will only work to continue increasing accessibility options, and make it much easier for players to get involved.
Changing audiences in gaming have also been a huge factor for the growth of online gambling too, previously the majority audience had largely been younger teen males, with mid-to-late teens being the most represented where gambling may not have been even legal for the most part. The growth of mobile gaming has changed this, the average age of players is now over 34, and with very different gaming tastes it’s easy to see why something familiar like gambling has grown so quickly – with suggestions pointing towards this continuing to be the case with an older audience becoming more involved with gaming as a whole, this will be a space that continues to allow for a different demographic to influence their favourite types and genres of games, and help them grow further too.
Lastly comes the impact of social media and streaming, the ability to share big wins may influence others to play or livestream options may encourage some players to check the game out and see if it’s something they can enjoy – gambling as a whole typically hadn’t been publicised and was always something that largely existing in the background, but with modern ads and social interactions it has allowed a much bigger audience to see what’s on offer, and also led this much bigger audience to trying out the games for themselves too.
