The times when you had to visit a physical casino to give it a spin are long since gone. These days, casinos are available to almost anyone who wants to play.
Although we seldom think of the accessibility of online casinos as an incredible feat, it’s only through impressive innovation and the development of new technologies that this level of accessibility has been made possible. Today, we’ll be looking at three of these technologies and why they are so important for increasing accessibility of games and more in today’s world.
1. Cryptocurrencies & Blockchain Technology
Cryptocurrencies, a type of digital currency powered by blockchain, boast many advantages compared to traditional financial assets and institutions. When transferring cryptocurrencies, everything is automated through a digital ledger system – there’s no central authority that regulates, upholds, or maintains cryptocurrencies.
Crypto has become known for its high security and transparency. Thanks to the decentralized system it runs on, it’s close to impossible to steal or hack crypto unless the owner willingly gives someone access to their digital wallet. Previous transactions are approved by and stored across a decentralized database, which makes unauthorized changes impossible and authorized ones traceable.
Making transactions with cryptocurrencies is often safer, faster, and cheaper than traditional options. It also removes the concern about delays due to holidays and allows users more control over how they store their assets.
The most popular cryptocurrency today is Bitcoin, with a market cap of over 2 trillion USD at the time of writing – although the cryptocurrencies are infamously volatile, and it may well have drastically increased or temporarily dropped since then.
Bitcoin has increased the accessibility of casinos by enabling payments through crypto at Bitcoin casinos. These types of payments are available globally and enable users to make deposits and withdrawals online, even in places where the digital infrastructure of online payments isn’t quite in place.
2. 5G Networks
It’s impossible to overstate the impact that cellular internet technology has had on the world. And 5G is the fifth and most powerful generation thus far. Although 5G is still quite new – it was first introduced in 2019 – the impact has already been massive in increasing accessibility, especially to entertainment options and tools requiring heavy use of data in places where the cable internet infrastructure isn’t well-established and cellular data is the most reliable option.
5G networks offer much higher download speeds than 4G, with a maximum speed of 10 gigabits per second in downloads. There’s also lower latency, giving users much more direct feedback and higher responsiveness. 5G also allows for more devices to be connected simultaneously. The increased adoption of 5G can even lead to lower prices per GB despite the increased speed, and makes it possible for users to cheaply get enough data to play at casinos or stream movies on VoD services such as Netflix and Hulu.
Yet 5G has much more potential than it has thus been able to show. The 5G Connectivity Index Report from 2024 shows that it’s still a minority of the global population that has adopted 5G. Interestingly, Kuwait has the highest adoption rate of 68%, with UAE, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Hong Kong taking up the next top spots. The countries with the lowest adoption rates that made the list are Nigeria, with 18%, and Indonesia and South Africa, with 20%.
3. Cloud Gaming Technology
Although Cloud gaming is still in its embryonic phase, it’s a technology with the potential to revolutionize how we game and the way we use our devices. By gaming on the cloud rather than locally, even those with a low-end mobile phone but a fast internet connection could enjoy playing demanding games that would otherwise be impossible to run.
This technology is also called game streaming or gaming on demand, and it works a lot like remote desktops. The game being played will run on a remote server, while the output is streamed directly to the user. The player's input is instantly recorded and sent, and if the network has low enough latency, the whole experience can be quite seamless.
For those with no access to high-end devices, this could completely change the game. Players could, for instance, play advanced casino games with beautiful but complex 3D graphics and mechanisms without any lagging – the only thing needed being high-speed internet.
Conclusion
If we want to create a world of equal opportunity, accessibility has to be one of our top priorities. Today, we’re further along than ever when it comes to providing the global population with the same level of entertainment options and information, and to a large extent, digital tools.
That doesn’t mean it’s time to sit back – we’ve still got a long way to go. But it’s easy to get caught up in the controversial power of techno giants and monopolies. It’s also important to sometimes reflect on the technological innovations we’ve invested in so far that have changed the world and, in a sense, made it a fairer place.
