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January 03, 2023

Smartwatch casinos - the next frontier in iGaming



iGaming is one of the most rapidly growing areas of tech. In 2021, the industry generated more than $50 billion in revenue, a figure that is expected to approach $150 billion in 2030. Online casinos and sports books have been around since the 1990s, but their growth and popularity really started to grow significantly with the arrival of the smartphone age.



Given the size and growth of the industry, it is no surprise that iGaming businesses are sinking plenty of dollars into developing iGaming technology to provide players with new, faster and more exciting ways to place a bet at the casino or on their favorite sport. Could smartwatch gambling be the next big iGaming trend?

The evolution of smartwatch technology

There’s something almost retro about smartwatches. They might be cutting-edge but they conjure images of future tech as it was pictured in the science fiction of years gone by, from Knight Rider to Inspector Gadget.

The first smartwatches actually predated the first smartphones, and it is interesting to note that although exotica like the Seiko Ruputer looks terribly dated by today’s standards, it raised exactly the same concerns we have from smartwatches in 2022. Issues like battery life, display size and user interface were the hot topics then and still are today.

Smartwatch casino gaming – why not?

For a whole variety of reasons, online casino gaming has not spread through the US in the same way as online sports betting. It’s partly down to regulatory issues and existing compacts with tribes and partly because the casino sector doesn’t have mighty lobbyists like DraftKings and Jerry Jones in its corner.

But that just makes competition in the six states where it is legal all the more intense. That’s particularly the case in The Garden State, where providers like PlayStar New Jersey base their whole casino service offering on innovation. You will see them heavily promoting areas like mobile live casino for the most authentic experience. Playing from your smartwatch would be a perfect fit for this kind of provider because – well, because why not? The main target demographic watched Knight Rider and The Jetsons as kids and all of us still have a lingering vestige of that inner child.

Momentum (News - Alert) is growing

Today, smartwatch casino gaming is a small and relatively obscure niche. But all the signs point towards that changing. The smartwatch technology being showcased for 2023 is more than capable from a processing perspective. The question of fitting a game interface onto the screen in such a way as it is comfortable to play is still the bigger challenge. However, Microgaming has teams dedicated to this exact topic. It is reinventing some casino classics specifically for smartwatches, starting with Thunderstruck and The Dark Knight Rises, two of its most popular slot titles.

Both have been pared down to bare essentials to provide a user experience that is fun and makes optimum use of every pixel. Where Microgaming starts, you can bet NetEnt and others will follow. Smartwatch casinos might just be one of 2023’s surprise hot topics.



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