When people think about gambling, they usually imagine a fancy building full of men in suits, women in their evening gowns risking it all with placing various bets, all while sipping on the glasses of champagne that are constantly replaced by the silent waiters in red velvet uniforms. However, with the outbreak of COVID-19, various regulations, and travel restrictions in place, this image might soon be forgotten.

Like many other industries, the gambling sector is struggling to adjust to the new, pandemic- induced realities, and it might just have found a solution to the industry crisis - online casinos.

How Does It Work?

Online gambling platforms were first introduced 10 years ago and the online subsection of the gambling industry has been growing in popularity ever since. Websites that offer online casino services usually operate based on complex software, that the client can either download on his device or use on the casino platform hassle-free. The software is a crucial part of the online casinos, as it allows players to bet real money, as opposed to the websites that offer gambling experience as a form of simulation, money free.

Why Is It Growing In Popularity?

With the internet traffic increasing amidst the global lockdown, every digitalized provision of goods and services is undergoing an extreme rocketing of the customers, and the profits are rising like never before. Online casinos are no exception to this trend. Recent findings show that the number of people gambling online in 2020 has increased to about 67 billion users as opposed to an approximate of 59 billion users in 2019.

With not many alternatives available for leisure, people turn to online casinos for the emotions that they cannot get from their lives due to the outbreak of the global pandemic. While the world is sinking into widespread anxiety, fear, and uncertainty about the future, online casinos are offering the boost of adrenaline and positive experiences that are currently hard to find elsewhere. What’s more, online casinos are constantly adjusting themselves to reflect the modern realities of everyday lives and present them in a positive light, which, overall makes the user experiences more pleasant and leaves them wanting more. That, coupled with introducing new promotions, constantly producing a vast variety of games, and conducting tournaments have resulted in casinos experiencing a boost like never before. Arthur Hendricks, Chief Editor of CasinoCrunch said that the surge of popularity of the online casinos may be signaling that the industry is about to undergo radical changes: “What we are witnessing now is a boost of users joining online casinos, and, although it is largely a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, the industry is adjusting to accommodate such a large influx of players, which, in the long run, might result in the enhancements that will outshine the traditional brick and mortar casinos that simply won’t be able to offer what the online casinos do, on daily basis.”

How Are Online Casinos Better?

Many argue that online casinos will not replace the traditional ones, because they won’t be able to offer the full experience that comes with physically going to the casino. While that argument holds some truth, consider the following. Many people, who enjoy gambling and the emotions that come with it are not eager to make an effort to dress up and go through the trouble of visiting the casino, or even travel to a destination such as Las Vegas, to get a few hours of doing what they like. For many, staying in the comfort of their own homes is much more preferable and far less costly. Moreover, with the industry growing in size and, consequently, the accessibility of online casinos is growing, thus, the digitalized version of gambling is able to meet the demand of the players far better, simply because traditional casinos will hardly be able to accommodate such a large amount of visitors on its premises. Finally, since operating payment in transactions is becoming more and more secure, online casinos are likely to become even more popular, since the security of the online transactions was often regarded as the final threshold that turned players away from the online casinos and towards the traditional ones.

Although it is very unlikely that the traditional casinos will become extinct any time soon, it is also very clear that online platforms for gambling can clearly outshine them by becoming gaining more and more popularity. The legality of online casinos is still a grey zone, but with the industry growing rapidly, it is likely that the laws will change to regulate online gambling effectively.