What Technologies are Changing the Face of Casinos

There are tons of no deposit online casinos vying for a piece of the market share. In order to stand out, they need to offer something different like no deposit slot games. Online casino software providers and developers continue to create different features to make casinos and their games more technologically advanced.

Let’s take a look at some of the latest technologies that are helping online casinos evolve.

Bot identification

Bot identification

While it’s humanly possible but tricky to count cards in blackjack to try and get a slim margin over the house, for a machine it’s a lot easier. This can be the case in games like Texas Hold ‘Em, too. For both online casino houses and the players that they entertain, making sure that players don’t have a bot running to try and cheat the system is a top priority.

Gaming houses look for known bot behaviours, such as playing too quickly, not losing as often as compared to other players, repetitive betting strategies, strange lengths of play sessions, and more.

These bot detection strategies can also be used to stamp out players who are counting cards too – so beware if you’re thinking of using this method (it’s what got Ben Affleck a lifetime ban from the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas).

Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

VR and AR technology are still in their infancy yet the potential is mind-blowing. There is no question that VR and AR technology is going to heavily influence the future of video gaming in general. Virtual Reality is already being used in video gaming. It is an immersive experience like no other. You put your VR headsets on and it is like stepping into the game yourself.

As far as online casinos are concerned, virtual reality and augmented reality is still far from widespread use, but it has already introduced itself in some online casino instances. Virtual Reality casinos are almost exactly like visiting a physical, land-based casino. Put your VR headset on and you will be able to walk around the casino and go from one slot machine to the other, walk up to tables and join games of poker, blackjack, etc.

If multiplayer and VR are integrated together, you could be looking at online casinos where you can walk around and interact with other players that are also playing on VR and multi-player. A complete 360 – degree online casino experience is just around the corner.

The technology already exists and has been rolled out in a few places, the most notable of which is Social Club VR: Casino Nights on Steam, which is a for-fun casino that can be played with your Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or Windows Mixed Reality headset.

Secure payment gateways

Secure payment gateways

One of the biggest challenges apart from legislative restrictions that the online casino industry has had to face has been that of secure banking. Online casinos usually cater to a global user base. This means that players are going to want to pay in several different currencies.

Furthermore, there is no common online payment method for all users, different users may have different preferences when it comes to online payment methods (this also generally depends on the location or country the player is based in).

Thankfully, most online casinos have been able to integrate several different payment technologies which are used around the world and give their players plenty of options when it comes to making deposits and claiming withdrawals.

These days, online casinos accept multiple currencies and also several payment methods which include, but not limited to credit cards, debit cards, eWallets such as PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, prepaid cards, gift cards, bank wire transfer, cheques, money orders and now even digital currencies.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are becoming mainstream whether you like it or not. When it comes to online casinos, hoards of online casinos already support cryptocurrencies. The most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, but some casinos even support other altcoins such as Litecoin, Ethereum, etc. In fact, a lot of casinos encourage the use of cryptocurrencies and some online casinos only exclusively accept Bitcoins (or only crypto coins), these are usually referred to in the industry as Bitcoin casinos.

Cryptocurrencies work on decentralized blockchain technology which has plenty of advantages, especially for the purpose of using them in an online casino setting.
Firstly, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are peer to peer transactions. This means that there is no middle party involved in the transaction (as opposed to fiat currency transactions where the banks are the middle parties).

The lack of a middle party also means that transaction fees can be a lot smaller than what banks are charging off the top.

Furthermore, cryptocurrency transactions are highly private and pseudo-anonymous. The only detail you will be sharing is your wallet ID. Therefore, you are not having to share your name, contact details or anything else. This is especially useful at gambling services where a lot of players would appreciate anonymity and privacy.

Another added advantage of using cryptocurrencies at online casinos is the speed of processing. Crypto transactions are often lightning-fast, therefore when you make a deposit or request a withdrawal, you don’t have to wait for hours or even days as is the case with other payment options like credit cards.

Blockchain gaming

Blockchain gaming

While cryptocurrencies are a technology that’s based on blockchain which verifies proof of a currency transaction for all to see, blockchain casinos live on a blockchain themselves so that games show proof of a fair game plus all funds involved.

For many players, especially the tech-savvy among us, they are wary of playing at online casinos. Are they really fair? What random number generators are used? What happens in the event of a system failure or glitch? All these fears can be alleviated with blockchain gaming. With all the code available online for everyone to see, a system that never goes down, and every payment and reward verified, casino play on the blockchain makes a lot of sense.

Does this exist yet? Yes. FunFair Technologies have been at the forefront of blockchain casino solutions for a few years now. While this type of gaming is still in its infancy, its potential is huge. The more that people understand and adopt DApps (that’s distributed apps running on blockchains), the greater the gaming community and the better the experience will be. Watch this space!

Identity services

Identity services

Proving someone’s identity online can be a tricky task. With different gambling legislation in different regions and the ever-changing face of how we prove we are who we say we are, online casinos have to keep up with identify proof and management.

It’s not enough to scan your driver’s license and away you go these days. Online identity services for casinos have to go above and beyond to ensure that they keep their own gaming licenses.

These types of identity services include:

  • Requiring multiple forms of ID for signup, including biometric measures
  • Using multi-factor authentication for sign in<.li>
  • Linking devices to identities
  • Identifying new patterns of customer behaviour to prevent account takeovers

Fraud detection systems

Fraud detection systems

To conform with gambling legislation around the world, online casinos need to have advanced fraud detection systems in place. So, how do new technologies help guard against fraudulent payments?

  • Bouncing deposits that have been made from devices associated with known fraudulent transactions
  • Deny transactions from jailbroken or rooted mobile devices
  • Block known IP addresses associated with fraud

One of the more interesting new technologies deployed in fraud detection is the use of machine learning. With machine learning, from a database of known real and fraudulent transactions, the algorithm can detect new transactions that look similar in nature to previous fraudulent transactions; whether they’re a certain suspicious amount, from a known dodgy or region, or repetitive in a known pattern.

There is also technology available that can assist in drawing connections between accounts to uncover fraud rings – by linking devices and play style, times, amounts, etc.

Gamification

Gamification

Gamification is a buzzword in web applications and mobile applications these days. Gamification is basically the integration of certain elements such as leaderboards with points in order to drive further engagement with the application.

Online casinos generally have leaderboards, but the main form of gamification at online casinos come in the form of a VIP club. This is where players are categorized into different VIP levels (usually depending on how much and how often they play) and as you are upgraded from one VIP tier to the next, you also get some additional perks. Some of the common perks used in VIP clubs to increase engagement include things like dedicated customer support, cashbacks, exclusive promos and bonuses, exclusive tournaments, etc.

5G

5G

Next-generation mobile network speeds are here! 5G is the new mobile technology that will allow us to consume a much higher amount of data at speed from our mobile devices. While this might not be great if you have a small data cap on your mobile phone, for those with large caps or unlimited data, it’s great news.

How will this benefit casino play? If you think the graphics on your phone are a bit basic, sometimes games lag, or you want to be watching TikTok clips on one side of your screen while you’re playing games of poker on the other side, then 5G will be able to assist in all these.

Game developers will be able to create more rich gaming environments for mobile, not limited by the bandwidth to your phone. This is particularly useful in the case of browser-based gaming. Lag will be an issue of the past (finally). And you’ll be able to watch TikTok while you’re playing poker all on the same device.

Live dealer games

Live dealer games

While live dealer games aren’t exactly a cutting edge tech, they are gaining traction among the gaming set. Live dealer games are played with a real live person doing being the dealer, streamed from a game location direct to your device.

Live dealer games are great for that social feeling that’s missing from many online casinos. You get to watch the dealer physically deal the cards, chat to the players, and even ask questions if you need to. Instead of heading to a land-based casino, you can simply fire up your mobile device and get the next best thing. Ante up.

Published on: 2020/05/04