Virtual reality is undoubtedly the next big thing. Ever since Oculus introduced the world to its Rift all the way back in 2011, the world has been crazy about virtual reality technology. “The future is here!” websites exclaimed enthusiastically. “We’re one step closer to transporting ourselves into virtual worlds”, reviewers claimed. Over the years since then, numerous companies have attempted to copy the Rift and create their own wearable VR technology, such as the HTC Vive, the PlayStation VR and the delightfully terrible Google Cardboard. Left and right we’re seeing products pop up aimed at one, or more than one, of the VR products. Numerous services, such as Netflix, have also shown us that they’re more than willing to accommodate what is universally perceived as being the Next Big Thing™. But is it, really?

As numerous devices along the years have shown us, you can’t really force the Next Big Thing™ into existence. Those Things, much like heroes, are not born – they’re made. I mean, remember the N-Gage? The Kinect? The Gizmondo? Yeah, I didn’t think so. All of those ideas were, at one point, meant to capture the imaginations of people everywhere, except they did not, and are now not even a footnote in the history of technology. Why? Because the market simply wasn’t viable for them, just like it may not be viable for VR. Keep in mind that Virtual Reality is going to be incredibly expensive, to the point where an Oculus Rift is going to cost north of $600, and even the cheaper devices are expected to exceed $350. Even with the incredible demand for those headsets, chances are that rather than a common household item like a laptop or a videogame console, VR devices may simply turn into novelty items that people buy as status symbols.

Keep in mind that VR isn’t magical by itself – it requires software in order to run right, mostly videogames. Videogames are incredibly expensive to make, and if they want to sustain themselves companies need to go for the lowest common denominator, the mass market that’s guaranteed to turn in a profit. Extra Credits did a wonderful video on the subject where they explain that, when faced with the choice whether to develop a big-budget game for a console that dozens of millions own versus a game for a device that only hundreds of thousands own, the decision that is right for the market is rather obvious. Worst case scenario, it becomes a closed circle – not a lot of people own a VR headset, which means that not a lot of developers will want to create software for it, which means that not a lot of people will be interested in buying one, and so on and so forth. While I’d certainly be very happy if this, honestly, quite promising technology succeeds, I’m also somewhat worried about its success.

Whenever I speak with someone about online casino, I often hear something along the lines of “These online casinos are just a gigantic sham! They’re lying to you, trying to hook you in, and only give you tiny wins to keep you playing! I mean, have you ever heard of someone winning more than a few hundred on one of those things? It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!” Well, even ignoring the fact that it’s very well-known that all online casinos are VERY highly monitored and regulated from numerous agencies (some run by the government, some private – depending on where you live), news reports of people who win outrageously giant sums keep popping up all the time. Even if the vast majority of casino winners make their money little by little and accumulate profits over time, those success stories aren’t particularly news-worthy, so instead we get bombarded by a ton of articles about people who won life-changing sums in a single bet.

The latest one comes from only a few days ago (January 17h), when an anonymous British player known only by his first name (Matthew) managed to win over £35,000 – or close to $50,000 – at once while playing live roulette. Allegedly, this was his very first time playing online roulette at all, and it only took him a couple of hours to snatch a gigantic sum of money. It’s important to know that he didn’t win this money on a single bet – rather, he made several successful bets within a very short amount of time, which all paid off. Whether it was pure luck on Matthew’s part or an expert application of maths, chance and tips found online is anyone’s guess, but it bears mention that several sites, such as highstakesroulette.co.uk, offer tricks and guides to help increase your chances when playing online roulette.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “live roulette”, it’s when the game is played with a real wheel spun by a real-life, physical croupier who is being broadcast live with the use of a webcam to dozens of players, each of which is free to place their bets on a virtual table. After each turn, the winnings are added automatically to the players’ accounts, and they’re free to bet again or withdraw their winnings. Players are often allowed to chat, and on top of that most casinos have specialized live rooms where the dealers will speak about things such as sports while playing the game, encouraging a discussion on the subject. Live casino is fully playable in your browser and on all mobile devices in most online casinos that support it.

According to statistics, the online gambling industry is HUGE. I mean, really, really big. In 2015, the global online gambling industry (which includes online casino, betting, lotto, bingo and all other gambling activities that happen on the Internet) made $41 billion, which may not sound like much until you realize that it’s what the top 40 highest grossing movies of all time made in the global box office combined, and online gambling made that money in one year. Wrap your hand around that – the most successful movie of all time, “Avatar”, still made 20 times less than what the online gambling industry made this year alone. Holy crap! And you wanna know something crazier? That’s not even close to what the physical casino industry is making! In 2015, physical casinos (JUST casinos, excluding stuff like betting and lotto) made about $160 billion – 75% more what the entire online gambling industry did. If that doesn’t blow your mind, it should. I’d calculate how many movies that amounts to, but honestly, I’m pretty sure that the top 100 highest grossing movies of all time combined still won’t come close to what physical casinos made this year alone.

Why is the discrepancy so gigantic? I mean, it’s not like online casinos are a new medium still finding its feet – they’ve been around for almost as long as the Internet! Videogames are only a few years older than them, and they’re currently the most profitable entertainment industry of all, with individual online free-to-play games (which utilize a somewhat similar model to online casinos) regularly raking in profits in the millions per game, and there’s hundreds of thousands of them! Arcades (the videogame equivalent of physical casinos) have long become a thing of the past in the West as more and more gamers transition to playing on their mobile device. And yet, even as the online gambling industry grows continuously, it’s not coming anywhere near the numbers that the physical casinos are making.

So, why is that, and more importantly, will it change? To answer the first question, there’s three major reasons. The first one is that online casino marketing is dreadful and needs to change ASAP. Even people who regularly play online casino can’t help but groan when they see them. At this point, the only thing that attracts people to online casinos is word of mouth, which isn’t sustainable. The second reason is that when you go on an online casino you always go there to play games – if you don’t intend to, why would you sign up? Meanwhile, not everyone who goes to a physical casino is necessarily there to play – casinos are social spaces, people often go there with friends or co-workers without intending to play, but doing so anyway. And the third reason is that, well, people don’t trust online casinos. Despite the various certifications that each casino has to go through, most people are wary of them and think of the games as cheating.

The most important question, of course, is what we can do to fix that and attract a larger audience to online casinos. Well, I already outlined the problems, and the solutions are obvious – better advertisement, a more social experience and more trustworthiness. If a soft drink that’s objectively bad for your health can be turned into one of the biggest brands in the world through clever advertisement, then I don’t see why online casinos can’t follow suit. For the second point, online casinos can take a page from the book of online MMO games and allow people to form groups and communities, to gamble alongside friends, to share each other’s winnings publicly if they so decide, to have a message board dedicated to that particular casino. Once you build a community, you have a guaranteed user base. As for the cheating misconception… I don’t know how that one can be fixed.

In conclusion, to answer the question posed in the title – is online casino the future of gambling? I’d say yes, but not as it is right now. If the online gambling market changes in order to accommodate itself for the new, tech-oriented generation rather than trying to encourage a “sign up once and never play again” business model as it’s doing now, it may very well catch up with the physical casinos or even surpass them. But as things are now, it’s going to take a lot of work.

Ah, technology! In the 21st century, we literally can not live without it! Technology is handling our communications, driving our economy and in a lot of cases literally keeping us alive through the use of life support systems and advanced medicine. We, as a species, have collectively evolved to rely on technology for literally everything… And that’s a good thing! Just like how millions of years ago we evolved to walk on two legs, or like the taste of cooked meat, or hunt using tools, today we have evolved to use the Internet for our daily needs and convenience, allowing us more time to focus on family and hobbies. While before reaching the masses required you to sit in the middle of a square and shout, today doing it is literally as easy as just tapping your fingers on a piece of plastic in a certain pattern. I’m doing it right now!

My name is Freder (not my real name, but I think the reference is somewhat appropriate), and I’m here to tell you all about the new, cool advances in technology, more specifically how the Internet has allowed us to evolve and move past the boundaries of our physical word. Sounds a bit too spiritual, I know, but it’s really not all that complicated – basically, I’ll be talking about stuff like the aforementioned mail/e-mail example, just on a grander scale. One of my favorite subjects is online gambling, simply because, well, it’s fun, and it also perfectly encapsulates what I want to talk about. Thanks to online casinos, we have moved not only gambling and gaming, but also part of the economy online while creating new jobs and new users experiences. It’s good stuff! So if that sounds interesting to you, stick around and let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes!