Is the iGaming Industry Taking Over the Internet?

Well, the short answer is yes, in parts of the world like Canada where iGaming is legal. Wait, gaming is illegal in some parts of the world? If monetary wagers are placed on them then yes, quite a lot of the world outlaws gambling. Despite this about a quarter of all adults place bets, and fourth fifths of them do it online. Anyway, you look at it, that is a surprisingly whopping number.

But what exactly is iGaming? It is where the world of online games and the world of casinos and sports books cross over. This is a soon-to-be hundred-billion dollar industry set for growth and many more happy years on the web. You may have noticed the tech industry being referenced more and more in the content you consume and in the news given the shuffling of laws and power. It is an industry not to be confused with either the casino industry or the gaming industry – it is an extremely popular hybrid.

So how have the success stories of this industry proliferated in recent years? Well, a number of factors are at play, not least of all the iGaming industry’s adaptability to the changing technological landscape – even virtual reality casinos are taking off.

This adaptive nature extends to the blockchain too, the number of crypto casinos is rapidly increasing and being made safer. If this continues, and it appears to be doing exponentially just that, then the industry may look quite different in the future. If the anonymous ledger rules over transactions without an authority then disputes over scamming will be a thing of the past… as will the system profiting the authorities as well I suppose? Hmm, maybe it is the coin of the distant future in that case….Perhaps that conjecture is too hasty and blockchain technology will be welcomed as indeed the iGaming industry’s resurrection itself was. The ledger ensures safety and integrity and I mean, it is not going to make the pie smaller, that is for sure.

The biggest facet of adaptability is however phone access – thousands of games in your pocket, anywhere you want. I predict gradually seeing more and more pedestrians punching the air on the bus… and perhaps more exciting lunches in the staff lounge at work! Some mobile casino apps have even worked with networks to allow payment to go directly onto the phone bill, debit it or credit, to make the experience as convenient and seamless as possible. It is still early days on that last part though.

One of the most notable players behind the IT industry’s success was actually the pandemic, you know, the coronavirus one. Whilst many industries ground to a halt and even plummeted, iGaming’s boom was ignited. This is likely due to people looking for new means of stimulation and thrill when they were cast adrift from established order. Understandable. By the time the world began to get back on its feet however, iGaming was here to stay. The same may not be said for homemade soap making, but the lockdown fad actually grew rather than faded. This is likely down to two main reasons: the convenience of gambling at home without having to go, god, knows how far to a casino, and more value for, well, money for money. Yes, online casinos are actually more lucrative than their brick-and-mortar precursors. This is because, with all the competition in one place, players are bought with attractive bonuses and loyalty programs.

And the financials are not just attractive for the punters either – legislators have been dishing out green lights because the tax revenue for online casinos is extremely high. This is particularly true in Canada which has had a recent shift in power in favor of provincial governing. Canada is experiencing the boom in full force this year given the iGaming’s assimilation into the country. Given Canada’s rich history with gambling the level of quality has had to be high for the new industry to gain entry: here is a list of the top online casinos in Canada.

Where has iGaming taken over the most? The U.S? Actually the industry has breached the great firewall of China to generate over fifty billion (a sixth of the world’s total) revenue in online gambling. America, here is your due- over 47 billion is not far behind! Lagging in third and fourth, though some ways behind in revenue, are Japan (22+bn) and South Korea (8bn).

Despite what all this timely hype might suggest, the iGaming industry has been going for quite some time. Since the nineties in fact, with Microgaming’s InterCasino and GamingClub that had attracted quite a following and led to hundreds more online casinos going live by the turn of the millennium. It was around this time that Betfair took a seat at the table, and not without an ace up their sleeve: peer-to-peer wagering.

It is exciting to consider where the industry will go, with such huge revenue, worldwide appeal, and a heck of a lot of growth forecast, the possibilities are truly endless. The positives really are that extensive when you look at it from the point of view of where the aforementioned taxation goes. Not pockets but social programmes and public spending, giving back to society. And if you are thinking about physical casinos going out of business and there being fewer jobs then the opposite is true. Not only is the industry catering to a vast demand that was previously untapped, but surrounding products and services (i.e. review sites) are proliferating as well, and that means more staffing and even more tax. One could easily venture the iGaming industry has fast become a core pillar of the global economy!