When you think of people playing in online casinos, those that come to mind are most likely older and wiser. This is a massive problem facing the casino games industry, as they want to tap into the younger market who historically have more money than ever to spend.
One way in which they are hoping to do this is to integrate more video game-like elements to attract those that are accustomed to playing them. This is one way to introduce the millennial market to the online casino world, which they may not have been acquainted with otherwise.
There are massive differences between online casino games and video games, most noticeably the skill factor. The majority of games played in a casino rely on luck, so it doesn’t matter how sharp a shooter you are. This can be seen as not very challenging, as millennials as a whole want to hone a skill to achieve results in a game.
Within the eSports arena, we’re seeing a big push to monetise these games for every player, not just the elite. This can come in the form of impromptu paid tournaments, in which each player pays in to play and then the winner takes the prize pot. The struggle within this form of gaming is the licensing, as this is technically real money gambling.
For this reason, we’ll most likely see these innovations come from inside the gambling industry, rather than from an outside source. The vast majority of people playing on slot games are over the age of 50, so it’s imperative to get these younger players back to the fold in that sense.
The idea of casino gaming seems to be less appealing to younger players for a variety of different reasons. They have a shorter attention span, too, and more at their fingertips to play, so they’re a pretty transient group. As a population, we’re accustomed to being able to jump from game to game easily, so if something doesn’t capture our attention we’ll head elsewhere.
When you play in new casinos online you’ll find that new games use elements from video games to boost their playability with the younger audience. This can include more immersive graphics and the use of trends that we see within the gaming industry, like a leaning towards more action-based games.
We could also see a rise in the number of casual games that are represented in the casino format. Games like Candy Crush went on to huge success, so it makes sense that they would be among the many to be represented in this way. They have thousands of daily players already paying in through the freemium model, so it’s not a huge leap to have them gamble and to be paid out back.
The casino industry is ever competitive and trying to evolve into a new form. This could be through creating new types of games and attracting the younger players that they need to survive. Cracking what makes this target market tick will be the million dollar question for those in the industry. It’s no longer enough to rely on the same people that have frequented the casino for years – they need to get younger players involved and ready to take part.
On the flip side, we’d love to see video games that you can gamble on. This could revolutionise the way that we spend our time as gamers and the return that we get from it. The future is bright for gaming and if casino sites welcome gamers into the fold, they’ll be sure to access an entirely new audience.
