What Can Casinos Learn From Pokémon Go?

Source: www.cnet.com

Virtual Reality has always been a dream of gamers, gamblers and everyone interested in modern technologies. Just a decade ago we couldn’t even think of it coming true but now we can play arcades with VR-glasses on and feel the full immersion into the gaming process. And while gaming and adult industries are using VR to make their products even better and promote sales, online casinos are for some reason left behind.

The first online casino that introduced VR to its clients was the SlotsMillion in 2015. In the SlotsMillion VR-casino, you can walk around the casino bar, stay in line to your favorite slot machine or interact with other gamblers while sitting on your living-room couch. It sounds pretty impressive but the gambling itself didn’t really change after the introduction of VR. For example, slot machines in VR casinos look just as they would look on your laptop screen. So there is still a long way to go.

Source: www.888casino.com

On the other side of "realities", there is the AR or Augmented Reality that lost the battle to the VR some time ago but rose up from the ashes when the Pokémon Go was released by Niantic in July 2016. Have you ever heard of the Pokémon Go? I bet you have. This game was downloaded by more than 100 millions of gamers from all over the world and is still in top-rates in AppStore and PlayMarket. After the Pokémon Go release the Nintendo (the company owns the Pokémon franchise) market value increased by $9 billion. The main point of this game is that now you need to get out of the room to play it. Pokémon Go combines the Virtual and the “actual” reality to create the impressive world full of Pokemons, game stuff, and battles. By the way, Pokémon Go is not the first AR-game by Niantic. Their previous release Ingress hasn’t become popular among the gamers or investors but the guys from Niantic took the risk and multiplied their earnings in just a couple of days.

So maybe there is something that Pokémon Go can teach the online casinos? I have made a short list of Pokémon Go pros that can be used in gambling industry to make it closer (literally) to the gamblers and add some fun to spinning the reels.

All-time-favorite characters. The range of gambling game themes is impressive. You can start from Egypt-themed slots and end with futuristic-looking roulette but what if there is something else to be used? Pokemons used to be very popular in the 90s but who could ever think that these cute creatures will come back in 2016 and set all the records? Gambling games providers should definitely look back and find new characters for their products. Who knows, maybe it will work with the smurfs? (lol)

The use of VR. The VR era has just started and it can quickly become the real gold mine for online casino games developers but they just need to look a little bit deeper. Current VR casinos let the gamblers imagine themselves in the real casino but the games stay pretty much the same. You can put the VR-glasses on It would be great if they can invent something just as progressive and trend-setting as the Pokémon Go and change the way Virtual Reality work in the gambling industry.

Take risks. It was definitely not the easiest decision for Niantic to forget the fail of Ingress and release one more AR-game but it worked and now we have millions of the Pokémon Go downloads. I think that online casino owners and developers should stop being too careful and take their risks to make the gambling industry go ahead and attract more gamblers with the newest technologies and ideas.

Virtual Reality is the door to the new opportunities and the companies who will open this door will gain new fans and funds. I believe that this is the step that all of the online casinos should take to become more cool and innovative and hope that new VR inventions are just around the corner. And, in our turn, I will keep an eye on all the events to be the first to announce good news for the VR fans.