Despite being only around for a fraction of the time of traditional slot machines, digital slots are increasingly dominating the evolving landscape. While traditional machines have seen some significantThere are occasions when we here at ReadyBetGo want to bring you interesting facts about the gambling industry When something catches our eye, we will publish it for your enjoyment.
by Christoph Scholz
by Garry Wright changes over time, none of these compares to how quickly and vastly online slots have changed. Usually acting as the largest part of online casinos, digital slots have come a long way, and in doing so offer advantages and features not available through other means.
One of the most famous illustrations of this comes from the creation of online slot tournaments. These tournaments routinely give out enormous additional prizes to slot winners, with daily, weekly, and monthly features all finding consistent audiences. Available in more than one location, users can play such tournaments from all over the world. An impossibility in how traditional machines and businesses operate.
While not widely available now, rising technologies like virtual reality could also play a large part in setting digital slots apart from their physical contemporaries. Already seeing the first steps in games like Gonzo's Quest, Miss Midas, and Thunderstruck II, such forms of engagement could represent an enormous future market.
Aiding in the continual popularity of online slots is the constant arrival of new slot titles. With major developers like NetEnt, Microgaming, and Yggdrasil behind the scenes, each year is met with many new releases, each pushing to new heights of graphics, sounds, features, and design. Big thanks here go to the flexibility of their software. Software games don’t require the costly implementation paths that hardware machine do, reducing barriers to creation and ensuring a constant influx of fresh titles.
As of early 2021, roughly 60 per cent of the world has some form of internet connectivity. With evolving infrastructure continually making accessibility easier, these numbers are only going to grow over time. What this means is that 60 per cent of the people of the world have theoretical access to playing slot games. Development of newer coverage systems like Starlink could raise this potential even higher.
Aiding this coverage is the lowering cost of mobile devices. According to current stats, 5.25 billion people, or 66.96 per cent of the human population, currently own mobile phones. With internet access being an increasingly ubiquitous part of the mobile environment, and slots being a strong fit for mobile devices, reach along these avenues is similarly seeing improvements.
Since their arrival alongside the first online casinos in 1996, online slots have made a habit of pushing the envelope. Working alongside other major developments in the online ecosystem, slots have reflected each greater step the internet has made. As hardware improved, slots looked and played better. When smartphones were popularised, slots were there to make the leap. As player-bases grew, online tournaments and newer titles delivered players new and expanded experiences.
Altogether, this evolution gives the impression of an arm of the industry which is never truly done. Whatever comes next for the internet, slots developers and websites will do their best to leverage the new possibilities. While it’s impossible to tell exactly what form these could take, if the past is any indication, the future is only looking up.
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