Evolution happens in every aspect of our lives. Sometimes, the evolution is natural and subtle while other times, it is like an explosion similar to the “Big Bang Theory. There has been nothing subtle about the changes that have taken place within the online casino community over the last 25 years.
How the UK’s Online Casino Gambling Community Has Changed in 25 Years
As indicated above, the online casino gambling community in the UK has evolved over the years. Much of this evolution has resulted because of the amazing aesthetic visual and audio changes that have evolved in online casinos and the games they provide. That growth has led the UK’s leading gambling regulator, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), to respond with more regulations for online operators and gamblers.
To be clear, most of the recent UKGC rule-making has been targeted at problem gamblers and the need for responsible gambling initiatives. Admittedly, all those aesthetically pleasing online casino games of today can be mesmerizing. Mesmerizing holds the potential of becoming addictive. That is exactly why the UKGC innovated and mandated operator participation in the GamStop Self-exclusion scheme.
GamStop was innovated as a way for a growing population of online gamblers to protect themselves from the onset of problem gambling issues. Once gamblers join GamStop, they have two choices. They can honor their GamStop decision or they can start using online casinos without a UK license such as Casino-Wise.com (listed options).
The History Behind Online Casino Game Development
Since the early 1990s, UK sports gamblers have enjoyed having access to online sports betting sites. In the early days of the internet, developing an online bookmaker was quite easy because it didn’t require a lot of bells and whistles. All that was necessary was for online operators to provide a basic sports betting platform that would provide a couple of banking options (credit cards), list odds, and provide a mechanism for taking bets and settling wins.
By the last 1990s, major UK retail casino owners began to see the potential for online casino gambling. The immediate issue that interfered with providing such a product was technology. It was much more challenging to create a software platform that would allow people to play roulette, blackjack, or slots.
It was Microgaming, Netent (Net Entertainment), and Playtech that decided to start developing online casino games around the turn of the century. Due to technological barriers, these software developers were only able to create very basic content. That’s why the earliest online slots were nothing more than fruit machines with three reels, three rows, and five pay lines. As crude as these games might seem by today’s standards, there were very few complaints from casino players. Why? Any online casino access was better than none.
This was life in the online casino community until 2010 or 2011. That’s when software innovations made it possible for software developers to inject life into online casino games. In the next section, the discussion is going to focus on how online casino game aesthetics have changed the online casino community into perpetuity.
How Online Casino Games From Yesteryear Compare to Today?
Table games are table games. There is not much need to create glitz and glamour when it comes to playing table games like blackjack or roulette. All that any player needs is knowledge of the rules, a place to put wagers, visuals related to game results, and ways to collect payments. There’s not much need for software development tools to create a table game format with lots of bells and whistles. Slots are entirely different animals.
The reason slots require more aesthetic presence is because they are games that bank on visual and audio effects to mesmerize players. Slots players have reached the point that they really enjoy and demand all of the bells, whistles, glitz, and glamour that online video slots of today provide.
The video slot revolution began in earnest when top software developers came to embrace HTML5 as software development. The development features offered by HTML5 allowed and still allow game creators to let their imaginations run wild. It’s the amazing inclusion of video and audio effects that have made online video slots the heart of today’s online casino community.
Aesthetically, slots have been transformed from crude fruit slots into video games. Players can now enjoy slots that have as many as six reels and nine rows, which have the ability to create literally thousands of ways for players to get paid. HTML5 has also given software developers the ability to create imaginative and exciting free spin games and interactive bonus features. And, That’s not all.
The games of yesteryear were visually bland with nary any audio effects. Through time and technological advancements, slots have evolved to the point of being a visual and audio explosion of color and sound. By offering visually, auditory, and exciting game playing experiences, it’s easy to understand why online casino gambling in the UK has been growing by double-digit percentages year-over-year for the last 10 years. Better yet, it appears to be a trend that is lifely to continue into the foreseeable future.
As for the future, it’s here now. Innovation has made live casino online gambling a reality. Table game players can now interact with live dealers who are controlling table games from hundreds of miles away via streaming technology. Next up is Virtual Reality (VR) online casino gambling. It’s here. It needs work. But, the future seems pointed in this direction, and the aesthetics of the games look amazing.