Extrapolating the future of video game gambling at online casinos.
The casino industry is home to one of the strongest, most diversified marketing fronts. Both online and offline, gambling companies take strategic innovation and promotional campaigns to a whole new level. They are always looking for the next big thing, and are often willing to spend whatever it takes to capitalize on it.
In the last two years, we’ve seen slot machines transform into video game style arcades. Inserting cash doesn’t just grant a credit to play, but also a chance to win money. They are known by several names, ranging from skill-based slots, to gambling video games, to casino arcades.
These games aren’t exactly prominent in the gambling world, though. For now, they are available in some major casino towns. Las Vegas and Atlantic City employ them, and they’re scattered throughout properties in California.
Traditional slot machines still outnumber them by leaps and bounds. But their popularity is fast growing. With it, there’s no doubt internet-based casinos will soon be incorporating video games for real money online.
Video Game Gambling at Online Casinos
It’s not here yet, but you can bet your bottom dollar these games will be coming to an online casino near you. The more they catch on and generate revenue for the bricks-and-mortar casinos, the more the online and mobile casino industry will want to incorporate them.
It’s not just about the chance to increase revenue. The risk factor for internet gambling operations is minimal compared to their land-based competitors. An online casino is not limited in game capacity. They do not have to weigh the pros and cons of giving up floor space to install games that may or may not attract a fan base.
When the very first skill-based slots were introduced in Atlantic City’s Caesars-owned casinos in 2016, those properties devoted a precious amount of their gaming floor to the arcade style games. When they didn’t draw enough players to make a profit in the first three months, they did away with them. It is worth noting, however, that they’ve captured a healthy fan base on the US west coast in the last year.
Once an online casino introduces these games, the only cost they’ll endure is the price of leasing them from the designing software company. Once one of those companies takes the initiative to create video games for real money online, operators will surely jump on the opportunity to secure a licence.
How Do Gambling Video Games Work?
There’s a high degree of challenge in creating these types of games. This fact explains why they haven’t hit the digital gaming realm yet. They must fall within the regulatory guidelines of ‘slot machines‘, while giving players a skillful advantage. Overall, the element of chance must still dominate.
Imagine a typical first-person shooter game, where the player’s job is to eradicate enemies; soldiers, robots, zombies, something along those lines. Now imagine that the more enemies you shoot, the more you win. Sounds pretty simple, right?
In order to retain the element of chance, though, the game must use a random number generator (RNG) to produce a random outcome; in this case, it might be a random number of enemies. Thus each session will be different. Maybe 15 zombies appear in one 60-second game, but only 9 in the next.
In this way, the creator controls the payback percentage, but still provides skillful players with an edge. If you happen to be a sharp shooter, you’ll probably do well in the 15-zombie session. But you could still lose money if too few enemies appear. The less adept shooters will help make up for the payouts to winners as they fail to destroy enough enemies to constitute a win.
Either way, video game gambling presents a more engaging, interactive and entertaining experience that a lot of today’s gamers – especially millennials – find appealing. As such, it’s only a matter of time before these arcade gambling games appear in the online realm.
