As the world of technologies constantly changes, each new year brings a wealth of opportunities for improvement and innovation. This rings particularly true when it comes to the online gambling industry, which has witnessed a dramatic spike in traffic in 2020. An increasing number of players resort to placing their bets online. 

The virtual segment will most likely continue to enjoy exponential growth in 2021 although it is impossible to make absolutely accurate predictions for the future. As last year has taught us, plenty can happen within the span of 365 days. Here are some of the predictions experts have made for the online casino industry in 2021. 

Exponential Growth of the Online Segment

The coronavirus pandemic dealt a severe blow to the landbased sector. Terrestrial casinos were plagued by a massive loss of revenue, staff layoffs, lockdowns, and reduced operational capacity. The same cannot be said about the online segment of the casino industry. It thrived in 2020, generating nearly $67 billion in revenue, and is likely to continue to do so if we judge by the forecasts of experts for 2021.

This year will see unprecedented growth in online gambling. The sector’s revenue is expected to eventually escalate to a staggering $92.9 billion by 2023. One of the main drivers of this growth is that more and more governments will find themselves in need of additional revenue. 

This would render the legalization of online gambling an appealing proposition for many countries that currently prohibit such activities. The introduction of adequate regulations could help struggling economies rake in additional revenue from the taxation of online gambling operators.

Casino enthusiasts who are just about to switch to placing their bets online will be facing tons of options to pick and choose between. Settling on one of the available gambling websites might be uphill work, but if they check for a comparison of casino sites, this will tone down their work. 

Upsurge in the Popularity of eSports

The eSports vertical already witnessed an impressive expansion in 2020 and is projected to see further growth this year. Many countries saw a huge growth across the eSports segment, the UK being one of the prime examples. The sector rose by an unprecedented 2.922% YoY, reaching £1.9 million in gross gaming revenue as of March 2020. 

This tendency will continue in 2021 when the eSports vertical is expected to pull in over 250 million consistent viewers and around 307 million occasional viewers. In turn, the rise in viewership will likely attract more betting action on eSport competitions, which could translate into projected revenue of US$2.5 billion in the United States alone.

A Shift of Focus toward Responsible Gambling 

As online casino gaming increases in popularity, so does the necessity of implementing more adequate preventive measures to hinder gambling-related problems. The regulators in many developed markets like the UK have already started to take steps in this direction. The UKGC has unveiled plans to enforce stricter responsible gambling measures in 2021 for online casinos to comply with.

Some of these aim to impose more stringent rules on the VIP schemes run by online gambling operators. The advertising of such products might see further restrictions to protect vulnerable players and minors from potentially harmful exposure to gambling. 

The British regulator has also unveiled plans to eradicate certain features in slot games to make them less addictive. Autoplay and turbo mode may be removed from UK-licensed slots if the Commission moves forward with its plans.

Mobile Gambling Will Dominate the Online Sector

There is no denying the smartphone revolution has taken our lives by storm. It has made shopping, communication, socializing, and gaming more accessible than they have ever been. The average time mobile users spend on their portable devices per day is projected to grow to nearly 4 hours by 2021. 

This is expected to cause a chain reaction, leading to an increase in the popularity of mobile casino apps. A paper published by major market research company Technavio in 2017 predicted that the market size and growth expectations of the mobile gambling market could witness an increase of 19% by 2021. 

However, the figures might be even higher than expected in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the associated closures (temporary or permanent) of landbased casinos it caused. According to the London-based consultancy company H2 Gambling Capital, 60% of online gamblers use mobile devices. 

More than half of the gambling industry’s gross revenue would be generated via mobile devices, the UK consultancy firm predicts. Mobile players could benefit from various improvements that would allow for a more wholesome and authentic betting experience on the go. 

Now that the Adobe Flash Player finally reached its end of life (EOL), all gambling software designers will embrace HTML5 or similar technologies when developing their smartphone products. Players will no longer have to deal with incompatibility issues since this new generation of casino games is accessible from all devices, mobile or desktop.

Bottom Line

All in all, 2021 will undoubtedly be the year of online casinos. The above are only a few of the positive trends the remote gambling industry is expected to see this year. The sector could witness many improvements toward delivering a better gaming experience to players as a result of increased interest and competition.