Why VR Online Gambling Will Become Mainstream Within 5 Years

Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have been on a serious rise over the past couple of years. VR is slowly become an integral part of many industries, primarily the entertainment industry. Online gambling is one of the core parts of this industry, and there is hardly any doubt that VR online gambling will become a mainstream thing within the next five years.

Taking online gambling to the next level

When online gambling first took off some 20 years ago, the user experience was extremely limited by the technology available at the time. With computer RAM and processing power being light years behind what we have today, and internet speeds being quite poor, early online casinos could only go so far in what they were able to offer to their players.

From very rudimentary casino games, with time, online casinos were able to bring more to the table, eventually introducing the concept of Live Dealer tables. This gave players a chance to experience the real casino from the comfort of their own homes and marked quite a revolution in online gaming. Of course, this has changed and advanced over time as well, and Live Online Casinos have become shinier and more appealing.

Now, we are inches away from the VR technology becoming mainstream, promising the experience greater and more involved than ever before.

First VR casinos & poker rooms

Application of VR in online gambling is still far from being a common thing, but there are already some online casinos and online poker sites testing the new technologies. SlotsMillion is one of the most successful online casinos to employ Virtual Reality in their day to day operations. While they still feature a traditional casino as well, players have an option to play in a full-fledged 3D environment allowing them to move around the casino floor, pick their games, and even grab a virtual drink at the bar.

Casino VR Poker is trying the same thing but for multiplayer online poker games. They feature software for Oculus Rift and Gear VR, two of the most popular VR devices available today. As of right now, they only offer play money games so that United States-based poker players can partake, but with time, they'll probably look to expand to include real money games as well. The idea is to offer the players a chance to play in an environment where they can actually see other players at the table, and there is much more interaction with chips, cards, etc.

Biggest challenges for VR & online gambling

The introduction of VR technologies to the world of online gambling has been one of the hottest topics at a number of gaming conferences and expos taking place over the past year or so. Experts agree that VR brings a lot of new and exciting things to the table, but at the same time, it comes with certain limitations.

The obvious downside of VR online casinos is the fact the players have to have special equipment, like VR goggles, to be able to enjoy their experience. At the moment, these are quite pricey and, additionally, many people are just not willing to go through all that trouble just to play at an online casino. However, prices of VR equipment will certainly go down with time, so within the next five years, we can expect the number of people willing to spring out a couple of hundred extra bucks for the improved experience will increase significantly.

In addition to the VR equipment, playing in these elaborate 3D worlds is very demanding for the computers used and it requires a very strong internet connection. This is an additional hurdle making the implementation of VR on a greater scale more complicated. Casinos are afraid of alienating their customers and prefer to stick to the model they already know works.

Gambling regulatory issues

On top of the things already discussed, casinos also need to worry about regulatory hurdles connected to this new concept. While more traditional forms of online gambling have fairly established rules that operators need to follow, the introduction of VR on a greater scale could present new challenges and require many changes and adaptations in the way they conduct business.

VR is coming

Despite all these obstacles, Virtual Reality will be coming to online casinos within the next five years. It represents a natural development of the current model and follows the path already started with Live Dealer tables and numerous dedicated gaming studios being opened by the giants like Playtech.

The implementation of these technologies in online poker games will be particularly interesting to follow, as it could give a brand new life to the whole idea of playing poker online. Instead of just clicking buttons, players would be able to interact with others and shuffle their chips, which is one of the main reasons many recreational players visit a live casino in the first place.

It may take a couple of more years for computers to become even more powerful on average, and for the necessary equipment to become more accessible to an average player, but VR online gambling is the thing of the future, and there is no stopping it. It’s only a matter of time.