Live casino is the latest trend at online casinos, and it promises to innovate further in the next few years, maintaining high levels of entertainment for players in this new frontier of digital entertainment. How we consume media and entertainment has significantly evolved in the last decade, with technological advancement leading to new ways for us to access, store, and experience entertainment in many different forms. From how we listen to music and find new favorite artists to how we watch movies, follow sports teams, and play games, everything is different, and we are easily connected to people with similar tastes the world over within seconds. The future is here, and in terms of the iGaming landscape, live casino gaming is the latest trend that continues to innovate and shift the landscape of digital entertainment.
How technology has changed the digital entertainment landscape
The way that we consume entertainment has changed significantly over the last ten to twenty years. Consider how the iPod changed how we could listen to music on the move with our favourite digital tunes downloaded and how that has evolved into streaming services such as Spotify where you can access pretty much any music that has ever been created at the click of a button. Digital advancement has changed the way we listen to music wherever we are. The same can be said of streaming services and how we watch movies at home, as well as gaming and online video gameplay and the wide world of online gameplay. Everything has changed, and there are obviously pluses and minuses to this (especially in the music industry where artists struggle to make money in the same way as before the streaming services).
The evolution of online casino games
Casino games were looked upon as only available if you visited a physical casino and would not have necessarily been deemed as part of the entertainment industry until the evolution of online gaming. The potential to play casino games online, on a computer, opened up a different possibility for the iGaming industry. From slots to blackjack, poker, and roulette, there are many different online casinos and different casino games that are animated, automated, and where a single player can play against the computer. It isn’t as real as playing in a physical casino, of course, but it offers players the chance to play wherever they are with ease. Plus, over time the design and gameplay has significantly improved, especially with the thousands of online slots from a range of iGaming developers with many different themes to suit all player desires.
Live casino innovation
It didn’t stop with online casino games though, and as the technology has improved, so too has the potential for online casinos to offer its players something more. This is where it has begun to be seen as part of the wider entertainment industry in the digital world that we live in, alongside the improvement in video games and how that has such a large share of the entertainment world. The next logical step for online casinos was the live casino. As much as people love playing casino games against the computer, live casino has brought an authentic feel of casino play to players wherever they happen to be, whether it’s playing on their phone on the move or their laptop at home. Live casino brings a filmed casino floor and streams it direct to the players, with human croupiers on screen and other players available to chat to. It brings real casino play with a human touch and social interactions with both the dealers and other players through chat box functions. It is the best of both worlds and brings online casino play into the modern age. Something you can do in the live casino of Kansino, is play against a Dutch (native) croupier.
Where next for live casino?
As streaming technology has improved and issues with lag times have been sorted out for most people accessing online casinos, live casinos are stable and fun to play. The next step for this part of the digital entertainment industry is to leverage AI and other technologies to ensure that customers experience enhanced gameplay. Accurate data and real-time support can be offered with the use of AI tools, smoothing the processes and gameplay potential, whilst Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) could see players access the live casino and feel like they are actually sat at the table games and the dealers are sat in front of them, not just on the screen as they play. This is the next frontier and is another example of how live online casinos are such a popular part of the digital entertainment landscape, not just for people who gamble but for those who like to play games online.
It will be interesting to see if the live casino sections of online casinos continue to develop at the pace that they have been moving at in the past year or so. As more iGaming brands continue to innovate and provide ever-more realistic and authentic casino offerings to players, utilising AR and VR, live studio casino play and social elements that bring the buzz of the casino floor to wherever a player happens to be, the future is bright for this area of the digital entertainment landscape. In the same way that the music world has changed forever with the way in which we consume our media, the same is happening in the iGaming markets across the world.
