In 1994, a small team of software developers from the isle of man founded the company microgaming and opened the first ever online casino and stumbled onto the future of the gambling industry. A year later they were joined in the market by CryptoLogic a company that was working on fast, safe and reliable transactions of real cash online. Their subsidiary InterCasino, is still up and running today.
These early gambling sites had a problem. In the early 90’s nobody knew what to make of the internet – many didn’t trust the new technology, and it would take a large amount of time to set up and start gambling (during the dark ages of the dial up internet) especially for older generations with the average age of a gambler being 51 years old, the barrier for entry was just too high for most.
But the technological improvements that have been made since didn’t just lower the barrier for entry – it removed it entirely. Online gambling has never been easier, and the age of online gamblers prove this with older generations taking up more and more of the user base as time goes on. With 22.7% of online gamblers being between 55 and 64.
In a UK report published in 2018, online gambling makes up 37.1% of the total gambling revenue. To put that into perspective, In under 25 years online gambling has become the most common way for people to gamble.
The internet connects:
You don’t need to be told the effects the internet has had on the lives of people worldwide. The web has become integral in the way we live our lives both personally and through work and business. As internet use has become cheaper and more accessible for people the remote gambling market will continue to grow, with many online bingo companies like trustedbingo.co.uk offering “online only” services and products. In 2019 the number of internet users worldwide was 4.13 billion, up from 3.92 billion in the previous year, it doesn’t seem long until we will be in a completely connected world. And the online gambling giants such as PaddyPower and Bet365 will continue to balloon in value.
The future of online gambling:
Phones are cheaper than a traditional desktop or laptop and so allow developing nations such as India to allow poorer families to get online and connected faster. India has placed many strict and confusing laws on online gambling in attempt to halt the youth of the country from gambling, but it has not made much difference as the gambling companies battle it out for control of the eastern markets. Many countries are beginning to place bans on online gambling and the ethics of the practice has come into question numerous times by governments around the world. But as it stands as technology moves upwards and laterally, the online gambling industry will continue find new ways of attracting customers and making profit.
The use of mobile phones:
78% of people used a smartphone in 2018, that’s a 39% increase from the last survey taken in 2012. This statistic is incredible as smartphones become more and more apart of our daily lives and don’t think the online gambling giants haven’t taken notice. The popularity and worldwide use of mobile devices have allowed online gambling to be done anywhere and almost instantly. In fact, the UK gambling commission found that 40% of the total gambling yield is generated by mobile phones with this statistic expected to rise exponentially with some market leaders estimating that mobile phones will be used for 75% of online gambling in the coming years.
