Being a new medium, Virtual Reality sparks as much distrust as it does awe. While some view it as the brainchild of dystopian science fiction, the idea of including gambling into the mix will daunt both the anti-gambling pressure communities and the politicians. It’s clear that if such a thing called virtual reality online casino develops, it will unquestionably face numerous regulatory hindrances. Some gambling authorities will most likely forbid it and some others may levy prohibitory regulations which could stagnate the development of the market and restrain its customer reach.
Nevertheless, for all its artistic potential, the utilization of Virtual Reality (VR) for online gambling is completely unstoppable and inevitable. Live casino games on Guts will become soon immersive and in fact, VR online casinos are already here and they’re all set to launch and set fire to the gambling industry.
Enjoying the VR experience – What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual Reality is a computer-created world which you enter and you literally transcend into another world once you put on the VR helmet, many of which are being already sold in the market. Some of the features which make this helmet special are its pre-installed sound system and multiple LED screens. Neither light nor sound will ever penetrate the VR helmet and disturb your experience as it is lightproof and soundproof. Since the very first helmet that was launched by SEGA two decades back, the VR technology in such headsets has taken a quantum leap.
There are multifarious fields which are earnestly waiting to leverage this technology, like health, education and therapy, the two biggest being gaming in general and military training. Presently the industry that is firing up is the online gambling and casino business which are looking forward to developing Virtual Casinos.
Designing the VR casino
In spite of the fact that the Oculus Rift headset was not likely to become available until the first quarter of 2016, an online gaming company SlotsMillion has spent the last 7 months interpreting its online casino experience in Virtual Reality. The consequence was a casino lobby perched in the clouds, on top of the 80th floor of a skyscraper. Gamers can brace up the bar, choose to play any amount of immersive 3D slot games, interact with co-players and sense real vertigo when they look down through the windows.
SlotsMillion also worked in close proximity with the licensing authority of Malta as they sought to foster a new set of practices for this new medium – VR casinos. Malta authorities interestingly reiterated that unlike majority of the live casinos, there should be clocks stationed on the walls so that gamers don’t lose themselves in the games.
Changing scenario within the gambling industry
Although the virtual reality displayed at SlotsMillion is unquestionably impressive, yet there is a product which still has no positive customer and market base. Is it then a mere artifice or an actual glimpse of the way in which gamblers will in future interact with casino operators? When a customer base will develop, what will that look like and how huge will it be? As long as the market is concerned, the Oculus Rift will retail at $350. Seems pretty affordable! But the goggles won’t work without serious gaming PC, thereby increasing the costs to $1500! Hence, it can be clearly said that the first users of VR casinos will most likely be the gamers of the millennial generation and not any traditional gambler. The casino big-shots of Nevada have long regretted the reluctance and hesitation of the millennials to embrace conventional casino games.
Meanwhile the boisterous rise of esports hasn’t gone unnoticed by the entire casino industry which is getting desperate to appeal to the younger generation. Both New Jersey and Nevada rectified their gaming laws to allow ‘variable payouts’ on the gaming machines to pave the way for the introduction of gaming slots which assimilate some form of video skill-gaming.