That’s certainly the case in Romania, which welcomed regulated iGaming in 2015. Revenue has been steadily increasing, and the industry in the country has been described as a ‘success story’ by Association of Remote Gambling Organisations president Odeta Nestor. There are plans to hike the tax payable on withdrawals, which may dent the industry, but in the main, it thrives in Romania, as it does elsewhere in the world. Indeed, the global iGaming industry is worth $65bn (L315bn), which is expected to rise year on year.
Why is the market so successful? The recent pandemic was certainly a driver, ensuring people had to play online if they wished to partake in casino games, but that has now passed, and the world returned to normal. The industry would be expected to take a nose dive as people returned to physical locations, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
It seems iGaming developers have been agile and reactive in retaining the customers they attracted during 2020 and early 2021. They’ve done this by diversifying their game offerings, twisting the accepted norms of a casino and managing to create a product attractive enough to stand separate from its original inspiration. Online casinos were intended to be your local casino but on a device. Instead, they’ve become something in their own right, which is why iGaming, rather than online casinos, defines them better.
To demonstrate this, here are some game types an online casino can offer you today that you might not find in every physical casino.
Live Game Shows
We’ve already mentioned live-hosted games, but online casinos have innovated with the use of game show-style games. These operate on the same premise as a live-hosted game, with a compere or dealer managing the game. Instead of fitting in with a regular theme, they have a style such as Alive in Wonderland or Wheel of Fortune and try to deliver a game show experience. Traditionally, game shows were hugely popular, although perhaps not so much today, but there’s still a desire for people to get involved in such events online. Developers have simply reacted to the popularity of live dealer games and adapted them accordingly.
Jackpot Slots
Jackpot slots work in a similar way to normal online slots. They take popular brands and themes, adapt them to the jackpot slot genre and package them as a different experience to online slots. For example, Gala Casino has a jackpot slot called The Goonies Return. It’s based on a popular 1985 film, The Goonies, which is experiencing renewed exposure of late. A new series based on the film will drop on Disney + soon, a channel soon to launch in Romania, further driving interest in the brand. However, they then adapt that popularity into a jackpot slot, which accrues a top prize in conjunction with other titles, such as King Kong Cashpots and Fishin Frenzy. Players across those titles and more are then playing for a central jackpot, which could be as much as $2m (L9.7m). It means they can offer huge prizes across a wide range of games that appeal to different customers.
Slingo
Slingo isn’t a new game; it started on the AOL platform in the late nineties and has grown into a casino staple. If you’re unfamiliar, it takes the popular game bingo and merges it with online slots. The customer spins a reel to reveal five numbers, crossing them off the playing card. Different bonuses come into play to make it a dynamic experience and one very popular with online players. Like jackpot slots, the developers use popular brands, themes and styles to appeal to a wider demographic of players.