From
Smartgambler Editor
July 2015.
The extraordinary rise of online casinos over the last 20 years has completely changed the patterns of casino gambling worldwide. There are many reasons why a person may have never set foot in a bricks and mortar casino. There may not be one in the area where they live, they may not have the mobility required to get to it if there is, they may not think they would like the atmosphere in a physical casino or they might be shy about being seen in one. All these factors were overcome with the advent of the online 'virtual casino' and it led to a whole new segment of players that has grown exponentially over the years.
Online casinos are not just creating a new breed of clientele though, they are also drawing traffic from the population of people who do frequent bricks and mortar casinos or pokies venues. This is hardly surprising when you consider the many advantages that online casino play offers.
First and foremost, many players love the accessibility and convenience of the online gaming environment. Being able to play whenever you like from the comfort of your own home, without having to get into your 'going out' clothes or drive anywhere, gets a big tick from a lot of players. In the modern world, time comes at a premium price tag to most people and being able to fit in a quick game online whenever you feel like it, without having to invest time and effort coming and going, is a very big factor.
There are, however, other advantages of online play that have contributed to its burgeoning popularity.
One of them is the speed at which online games can be played. At physical casinos the speed of play in many games is vastly slower than in the virtual world. Games like blackjack require decisions from each player and can be quite slow, roulette requires time for everyone to place their bets, and anyone who has played poker in a physical casino knows how long some players can take over a big decision before someone calls 'time' on them. Most online games can be set to play as fast as the player wishes and this means more action and less boredom.
Another advantage is that other players in a real world environment can sometimes be obnoxious, smelly, aggressive or overly familiar and there isn't much you can do about it. It's not always a pleasant environment socially, whereas the online environment can largely be controlled by the player. Even the noise level can be controlled and unwanted interactions can be minimised.
One aspect of the rise of online casinos that has started to make an impact is the introduction of the 'free to play' concept, something you don't see in the bricks and mortar casino world. Some online casinos now allow players to purchase tokens or 'credits' to play with, so that the player is not actually betting with real money. They might for example buy $1,000 worth of virtual money for $10 of real money. Then they can play and enjoy themselves as if the virtual dollars are real, but their only exposure to loss is the $10 they already spent.
This innovation changes the psychology of play more towards entertainment and away from gambling, especially the potentially serious trap of compulsive gambling, where players can become so numbed by losses that the losses no longer act as a circuit breaker or deterrent to further play. This means that such casinos have a potentially important social benefit. If you take the view that people who want to gamble are going to find a way to do it, then online casinos offering the free to play model are taking potential compulsive gamblers into a much safer space.
A very nice example of the free to play model is Club 8 Casino, which is owned by a group of Australian RSL clubs, now providing free slot casino games and other variants of popular card and bingo games. Not only is it a graphically appealing site, but the Returned Services League in Australia do a lot of good work in the community, so a lot of the income derived by Club 8 Casino ultimately finds its way back to disadvantaged or low socio economic groups. To me this seems like a great concept and I would expect the idea to keep gaining momentum.
Note: Opinions expressed in the 'Articles' section of Smartgambler are those of the guest authors and are not implicitly endorsed by the owners of Smartgambler.