Posted by Although the popularity of new, online casinos and gambling platforms has been rising for some time, the popularity of the sector has never been higher.
In fact, according to recent industry estimates, the size of the global online gambling and betting industry reached a staggering $61.5bn dollars in 2021. Perhaps even more impressive, the growth rate looks set to continue for quite some time to come, with the same report forecasting that this figure will rise to $114.4bn dollars in 2028 — which is an overall increase of around 86%.
While a certain amount of this growth has been organic — by which we mean new players trying out casinos for the first time they find their way to online casinos — much of it consists of existing casino and gambling fans trying out these new digital mediums.
In this regard, it isn’t just the first-time gamer that is fueling this growth in the industry, it is also due to established casino fans switching their allegiance from traditional in-person or brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, towards these new online casino platforms.
Looking at this trend from a wider perspective, however, it begs the question: why are online casinos proving to be more popular than traditional casinos?
At the outset, we should state that this should not be taken to mean that the traditional casino is dead. In fact, quite the opposite appears to be true. A post-pandemic surge in tourism has led physical casinos to experience solid returns since shutting down during the pandemic.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the main reasons online casinos have proved so popular in recent years over their traditional, brick-and-mortar counterparts!
Opening up of the online betting industry
One of the major contributing factors to the rising popularity of online casinos is thanks to the changing regulatory landscape.
In recent years, we have seen various countries around the world taking a softer, less restrictive approach to online gambling of all forms, including online casinos.
The sector has experienced explosive growth since a US Supreme Court decision opened the door to new forms of online gambling. Similarly, we have seen the NZ online casino becoming more accessible in recent years with older restrictions easing up. This has led to the Asia Pacific region growing to be a global hub for online casinos!
The result of these shifts is that more people than ever have access to high-quality online gambling and casino platforms!
Growing popularity and power mobile devices
Arguably, however, one of the major factors driving the growth of the iGaming sector, and the popularity of online casinos more generally, is the ready availability of powerful devices that can be used to access them.
As you might expect for a society that is increasingly reliant on mobile phones to undertake a wide range of daily tasks, it has never been easier to access high-powered devices capable of accessing high-speed mobile internet.
This development has led to smart phone and mobile device ownership surging to a staggering 15 billion devices world-wide in 2021, which is up from 14 billion the previous year.
While this development has proved revolutionary for individuals residing in countries where access to high-speed internet and desktop computers has lagged in comparison to richer parts of the world, it has also had a big impact on the iGaming sector.
Mobile gaming has surged in popularity around the world, with iGaming and online casinos taking up an increasingly large slice of this pie! This means that more people than ever are getting their gambling fix online, rather than in-person.
The convenience factor
Another major factor that we would be practically negligent to overlook in accounting for the growing popularity of online casinos over traditional ones, is simply the convenience factor. While this is a fairly obvious factor in the growth of the sector, it is still worth repeating!
Online gambling platforms can be accessed from anywhere in the world, provided you have a decent mobile internet signal. This means that regardless of whether you find yourself sitting on the sofa at home or trying to numb the boredom of a long commute home from work, you always have access to a fun and engaging game to pass the time.
For traditional casino fans and first-time players, these factors have proved irresistible. The ability to access quite literally thousands of high-quality online casino games at the touch of a finger has helped player numbers to explode across the sector. It also reduces the costs and effort previously associated with trekking out to a brick-and-mortar casino, which is a big win in our book!
In this sense, online casinos have proved more popular than traditional casinos because they fit our increasingly mobile lifestyle.
