The year 2020 is set to be a big one for innovation when it comes to gambling apps.
Companies in the gambling industry are becoming increasingly creative in a bid to bring in as many customers as possible.
Individuals who are choosing the best gambling apps have a lot of different options, so one that stands out from the crowd due to being more innovative is likely to be appealing.
Here are some of the top gambling app innovations that marked 2020.
1. Virtual Reality casinos
Virtual Reality (VR) looks likely to be one of the hottest new trends for online casinos this year.
VR is slowly becoming mainstream with headsets – such as those made by Oculus – affordable enough to be options for a lot of people.
Uses for VR among the general public have been mostly restricted to video games until now, but casinos are looking to get in on the action as well.
VR has obvious uses in the gambling industry, helping to improve levels of realism. As an example, VR could result in a huge difference in what it could be like at an online poker room.
If all players were wearing VR headsets, it would be much more like playing poker in real life. Poker at online casinos is different due to not being able to see the expressions on fellow players’ faces, but this could change as a result of widespread adoption of VR.
Furthermore, live casinos would be another area of the gambling world that could benefit from VR. Players trying games such as blackjack and roulette would be able to interact with the live dealers and their fellow players even more than they can now due to the use of VR.
2. Changes to how problem gamblers are protected
One of the things the gambling industry has to get to grips with in 2020 is how best to deal with problem gamblers. While a lot of people can play at online casinos without any issues, some individuals could be at risk of developing an addiction.
However, one of the challenges here is that a proportion of the revenues made by online casinos comes from people who could be termed problem gamblers. This means companies in the industry may not be motivated to get a better handle on what appears to be a growing issue.
A gambling app innovation that could make a big difference in this area is through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Most online casinos already use chatbots to answer customer service queries, but as AI becomes smarter and more subtle, its usage is set to be extended.
Among the ways where AI could be increasingly useful to online casinos is in the identification of problem gamblers. At the present time, gambling companies may not be aware of someone having an addiction to betting until a few days after they have had a session on their site.
But AI can flag this up a lot quicker and recommend that checks into a customer are carried out. These checks are already in operation, but not all casino companies are taking them seriously. For example, in April of this year, Caesars Entertainment – one of the world’s biggest gambling brands – was fined £13 million by the UK Gambling Commission due to failings in this area.
3. Carrier billing as a payment method
Gambling companies regularly update their payment methods in order to offer as many options as possible to both new and existing customers. But in 2020, carrier billing could start to really take off in a big way.
Paying by mobile phone bills is already offered as a payment method by a lot of online casinos. This year, however, a lot of other companies in the industry are expected to follow suit.
One of the major positives of gambling apps allowing carrier billing is that users only need a phone and a SIM card in order to be able to start playing casino games online. This reduces the barrier to entry for a lot of people in some countries around the world.
Players can even receive their winnings through carrier billing too, so making both deposits and withdrawals is possible through this method. During 2021, it is likely to become a lot more common for gambling apps to offer this as a payment option.
