Any type of activity we have been occupied with throughout history has followed the typical stages of development and reached milestones that posed the same question ‘Where do we go now with this?’ Gambling is definitely not an exception here. Its last major evolution took place in the late 90s, with the advent of online casinos, and the changes it underwent in the process were, largely, minimal.
Nowadays, however, as Meta and other corporations push forward the idea of a collective online illusion named Metaverse, we may be on the threshold of a new tectonic shift in the industry. How often has the following thought occurred to you while browsing your favorite slots casino site: ‘I wish they came up with something I haven’t yet seen. I’ve tried pretty much everything that online gambling has to offer.’ If the answer is ‘quite often,’ then you may find this article of interest, for we’re looking at the brave new world of metaverses in the context of gambling here.
Supply
We have researched today’s online gambling industry to find out there are only a couple of attempts to marry casinos and VR that moved past the conceptual stage. The most successful example would be ICE Poker casino, active since 2021 and growing in 2022.
The financial backbone of the parlor is completely different from what you’re used to in regular online casinos. Instead of direct currency deposits, you have to buy NFTs (the hottest new alternative to cash) in the form of items for your avatar. The value of these NFT’s is linked to the platform’s cryptocurrency and this is how you can get your money out. And don’t forget experience points, leaderboards, multipliers and other peculiarities that will make an unprepared head spin. Does it sound like too much to you? Well, there are surprisingly many people who think otherwise.
Demand
ICE Poker enjoys a steady online of around a thousand people at any given time, which is quite impressive compared to other, mostly lifeless metaverses. Six times more is the count for unique daily visits, and the total number of registered users exceeds one million. Surprisingly, the casino is powered by Decentraland, an explicitly non-profit and power-to-the-masses platform. The gamblers make up one third of its total user base, and, from the business standpoint, things look fine for whoever decided to establish ICE Poker - the reported income in the first quarter of operation amounted to almost $8M.
Other attempts to put gambling on meta rails we’ve been able to find are much less successful. Of the big names, Atari has shown an intent to give it a go but didn’t make it past the talks. Independent startups have shown more tenacity, mostly represented by play-to-earn games. Virtue Poker, for instance, went as far as to get themselves an offshore gambling license.
Optimism
As touted by Zuckerberg, Metaverse and its analogies will give you a chance to be whoever you want, doing whatever you can imagine in 2022 with Meta. This invites us to think that creative minds working in the gambling industry may come up with something radically new, when presented with a limitless action radius. Imagine any type of activity recreated in virtual form, based on the games-of-chance principles. If the developers of such entertainment gain access to all the computational power of the platforms, the results may be astounding, and well beyond the most daring predictions. We’ll only have to wait and see.
Realistically speaking, what we can expect in the nearest future are full- ecosystem virtual reality gambling platforms, where you can first earn resource, then spend it on entertainment, win some more in the games of chance and withdraw it in regular currencies. The foundation for such a mechanism comes from an unlikely direction - more and more rural workers from South Asian countries give up their daily toiling for NFT-based games that simply double their income compared to farming. The aforementioned example of ICE poker proves this concept viable as well.
Skepticism
The vast majority of gamblers from around the world has shown little to no interest in getting involved with innovations in the industry. Reels, paylines and levers are enough, and whoever comes up with the next big thing to substitute them will have to go to great lengths trying to explain to this conservative community why they need to give up whatever it is that they enjoy about traditional online gambling.
The potential diversity offered by virtual reality may prove another double-edged sword. What exactly should developers invest in when you could do anything? We see it as a long and painstaking trial and error process that many risk-averse casino owners will stay away from. That is, when the more daring bunch tries and succeeds - then others, as it usually happens, will follow suit to determine the future of gambling.
Casino Conclusion
It is not yet clear whether the existing pioneering meta-platforms will stand the test of time - the whole thing is simply too new to predict the outcomes. On the one hand, major companies have already invested billions into building the virtual world. On the other hand, online gambling has not changed radically in the last 20 years and there are no surefire signs of any revolution about to take place. Also, the legal issues with integrating gambling into centralized cyberspace can prove a significant obstacle.
All in all, if marketed right while targeting the potentially interested audience, virtual/augmented reality gambling may grow into a commonly enjoyed type of entertainment - especially if backed up by sustainable public interest in digital currencies and commodities. As of now, no gambling expert will be able to give an accurate forecast as per what exactly the whole thing is going to look like.
