Which Technologies Underpin the UK’s iGaming Industry?
Posted by Harry Kane on Wednesday, September 30, 2020
The iGaming market is now worth an estimated £5.3 billion in the UK, with the GGY for slots, remote betting and even bingo continuing to increase incrementally year-on-year. One of the main reasons for this is the tech-led nature of the market, which continues to rely on innovation and advancement to adapt to changing customer behaviour and create a safe experience for players. But what are the precise technologies that underpin this marketplace, and why are they so important? Let’s find out!
1. Cloud Computing
As the iGaming market grows, a rising number of brands are shifting towards online and virtual platforms, resulting in the creation of new online casinos in the UK.
Similarly, the introduction of the controversial, £2 FOBT cap has devastated the offline betting industry and caused a number of high street closures, forcing companies to accelerate their transition online and embrace new international markets.
Both of these trends have created a rising demand for online games, and operators have turned to Cloud computing to create a more seamless gameplay experience and replicate the excitement of real-time, corporal gaming.
This type of technology also lends itself to personalised experiences and promotional offers, while delivering superior performance and scalability in a safe and secure environment for players.
With the advent of Cloud computing, online casinos can also apply superior analytics and enhanced data management processes, ensuring that customer information is safeguarded at all times.
Most importantly, Cloud computing continues to evolve and expand its capabilities, enabling operators to scale their casinos organically and in the most sustainable way imaginable.
2. Data Science and the Advent of Artificial Intelligence
This brings us neatly onto the interconnected concepts of data science and artificial intelligence (AI), which are crucial to the development of customised and immersive gaming experiences online.
More specifically, casinos are able to generate increasingly large volumes of diverse information in the modern age, and data science principles make it possible to organise and interpret this in real-time and leverage it to enhance the typical consumer experience.
The most obvious application of this is the provision of customised services and promotions, while data science also enables operators to target players with relevant games and new releases based on their previous behaviour.
In the case of the rise of gambling AI, we’re talking about one of the biggest and most seminal tech trends in the global economy. It can be applied through various channels in the iGaming space, although it’s most commonly used to underpin real-time chatbots and the delivery of personalised customer services.
AI also plays a central role in the collection of data from customers, from which operators are able to deliver accurate product personalisation for players across a number of alternative verticals.
This leads to increased engagement across the board, even through automated interactions that involve chatbots.
Another key benefit of AI is that it can effectively collate disorganised data sets from resources such as social media, enabling brands to achieve an even greater insight into their audience and benefit from improved decision making as a result.
3. Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
Back in 2018, the UKGC announced its core strategic objectives through 2021. Number one on this list was the safeguarding of vulnerable gamblers, and this has informed many of the regulator’s decisions over the course of the last two years.
Bitcoin continues to dominate the cryptocurrency world and boasts a market capitalisation of $117.81 billion, trusted and purposeful tokens such as Ethereum and Ripple have made their market in the iGaming space. In fact, Ethereum is at the heart of the current market in the UK, and could well play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the industry.
For example, we’ve seen a number of casinos that widely accept Ethereum and similar crypto tokens in recent times, many of which (such as Stake) combine this type of payment technology with proprietary games to create a truly unique wagering experience online.
Bitcoin online casinos of this type usually leverage underlying blockchain technology and cryptographic security too, creating far greater transparency for players and upholding their anonymity at all times.
If we delve further into blockchain technology, we also see the emergence of so-called ‘zero house edge’ casinos that level an historically uneven playing field between players and operators.
Take Edgeless and Zero Edge, for example, which eliminate the classic house edge synonymous with all online casino games and (in most instances) provide players with a 50% chance of winning each wager.
This type of casino relies heavily on a decentralised and transparent technology such as blockchain, which provides an immutable ledger of transactions and can’t be manipulated by the house or an online casino brand.
It also creates a far more appealing proposition to players, enabling them to make the most of their bankroll and cash in over time!
The Last Word
These technologies are having a dramatic impact on the iGaming market, and will continue to do so in the near and medium-term.
Technologies such as blockchain have the potential to be particularly transformative, while AI has also revolutionised the provision of customers services online.
It will be interesting to see how these technologies evolve over time, and whether or not they ultimately benefit iGaming and drive growth in the marketplace.