Here’s How You Might Be Placing Your Sports Bets in Future
Football and betting: Gambling companies adorn the shirts of 10 of the 20 current Premier League sides, and that’s not counting the “sleeve sponsors” we see on shirts; betting adverts usually sandwich the coverage of games on Sky Sports, albeit it has been tampered down a bit over the last year; the billboards, the kit, the adverts, the media, the social media are flooded with betting.
One might think there is a saturation of gambling and football, but that’s irrelevant to our purposes here. The reason for that is that the way we bet might change in the coming years. Yes, there has been a demise of the high street bookmaker in recent years, as betting has moved online. But we are talking about a more fundamental shift here, and it’s interesting whether or not you enjoy a flutter.
World Cup saw the first live betting widget
Back during the 2018 World Cup, NetEnt – one of the world’s biggest online casino software developers – released a widget a betting widget for its live casino games. The idea is that you could place bets on the World Cup matches through the widget while playing live roulette at the same time. So far, so simple and it might not sound very exciting. But this product was seen as revolutionary, and it tells us more about betting and gaming of the future.
If you don’t know live casino, you can sign into our recommended casino to play live casino games and see what it’s all about. Essentially, we are talking about real dealers, tables, dice, cards etc., all streamed to your device. Console technology is used to place bets on roulette, blackjack and other games, making it exactly like you were placing chips in a real casino.
The merging of betting is significant in this arena because it highlights the shift of online gaming from a solitary experience to a social one. NetEnt’s widget was used in a game called Live Sports Roulette. The concept behind the game is that players got together online to play live roulette with a real croupier, but also got together to discuss the sports games going on in the background. The widget, which was brought out specifically for the World Cup in Russia, then allowed them to place bets through the game.
Widget hints at future of gaming in VR
The point, as such, is not what NetEnt achieved in this area, but what it means for the future. Instead of going to the bookie to place your bets, and instead of visiting a traditional online betting site, you might enter an arena of mixed reality, a social sphere built to accommodate the day’s action in the sporting world. The casino games might end up being only an indirect reason for visiting. And, other areas of technology will change how we experience entering that reality.
How far is this all away? Perhaps not as far as you think. The betting & gaming industry is hugely competitive, and they are always pushing for new technology in these areas; live casino games are an example of that. It’s very possible that they could soon create experiences where you log in and use your VR headset to enter a casino and betting suite, chat with friends and watch the football game, or play a little roulette. Better than going down the pub with your mates and placing a few bets? Time will tell.
