If you look at how the online casino industry has developed over the last 25 years, it can basically be broken down into three important innovations: The 1990s saw the first wave of games, and the push for the industry to establish ‘internet’ casinos; The 2000s were all about the world’s move to mobile, ensuring the industry was prepared to offer people the chance to play on their smartphones; The 2010s, meanwhile, were characterised by the roll out of live casino, which are games with real dealers streamed to your device.

What will the 2020s hold? Well, there is rampant speculation that the whole concept of online casinos might see some dramatic changes. You might think there isn’t too much that can or should change. After all, online casinos offer everything – and perhaps more – that you would find at the biggest casinos around. Yet, there are several innovations that look set to take the casino world by storm, and it might dramatically alter the very fabric of online casinos.

VR will impact the 2020s

First of all, the software companies behind casino technology are pumping a lot of money into virtual reality, as well as mixed and augmented reality. We are basically at the prototype stage with VR casinos, but it’s not that far away from becoming mainstream. Part of the difficulty is ensuring that the players have the equipment in their homes. But, as is evidenced by the fact that companies like Facebook have 100s of staff working on VR technology, that also looks like it will change the coming years as the rollout of VR starts to hit the average home.

The next area is the idea of skill-based games. Again, this is something that is at the prototype stage, but the fundamentals are basically there. Of course, some casino fans would argue the likes of blackjack and poker are already skill games, but this more about capturing the kind of market of people who enjoy skin betting on eSports and playing games like Fortnite competitively.

Ambitious new games rolled out in 2019

Even today some casinos have really made a foray into the idea of creating games that look and feel like video games. For instance, If you look at a modern site tailored towards Canadians like slotsheaven.com, you will see the new range of Playtech games – Kingdoms Rise. This game series has more in common with an adventure video game than it does with traditional slot machines. Video game like graphics allow you to explore fantasy worlds that are connected through an interactive map, allowing you to flip through different games and features.




Kingdoms Rise was released just a few weeks ago, but it really seems like a big hint for the future of online casino games over the coming years. A crucial point about the games is that they are linked to each other, meaning they share jackpots and some special features. This is going to allow casino software developers to be more imaginative with game design, but the linkage also helps grow faster and bigger progressive jackpots.



While online casinos offer a different experience to what you will find in the resorts of Las Vegas or in Canada’s land-based casino industry, the websites have always tried to replicate what is offered on the real casino floor. However, you are likely to find that the opposite will be true in the coming years; essentially, real casinos will attempt to harness technology to catch up with websites in terms of gaming options. Both areas of the industry might look very different by the time we reach 2030.