Casino games generate more than $90 billion every year according to Statista. In Las Vegas, Macau, and other gambling-friendly cities, casino games employ thousands of people and generate millions of dollars in revenue for local governments.
In this article, we’ll focus on online casino games and how they have evolved since their inception in the 1990s. For clarity, you can play most of the games we’ve mentioned below at the Lottomart games online casino if you’re over 18 and reside in the UK. That said, let’s get started.
Reels, Symbols, and Graphics
When slots came out in 1994, they were nothing like they look today. For starters, the average game had simple graphics. In-game characters and symbols looked grainy and unattractive.
But players didn’t have many options. In fact, most slots featured fruits as symbols: cherries, melons, oranges, and pineapples, to name a few. Sometimes they would feature horseshoes, bars, bells, and poker card symbols.
Still, online slots in the 1990s had nearly the same types of symbols. What’s more, they usually featured three reels, a handful of pay lines and zero bonus rounds, free spins, or multipliers.
Fast forward to 2022 and video slots look ultra-realistic. Let’s start with visuals. Modern casino games feature 3D graphics and support VR, whether you want to play slots, roulette, or poker.
When it comes to symbols, slots take after just about anything in the world: crime, politics, sports, TV shows, Norse Gods, ancient Egypt, and video games. They’ve also improved on reels—modern slots have 5-7 reels.
Payout Rates
If there’s something you should be glad to change about casino games, it’s the payout rates. Back in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, casino games would pay less than 90% of wagered money.
This would translate to fewer winnings for players. Of course, it also meant people weren’t excited to play online casino games a lot. Over time, developers and casinos improved on payouts.
Not only do modern online casino games pay well, but they also pay out much better than brick and mortar casinos. Let’s start with slot machines. The average online slot pays out 95% or more of money wagered over time.
It’s not uncommon to find 97%, 98%, and 99% online slots. Just take a look at these games:
- Mega Joker—99%
- 1429 Uncharted seas—98%
- Blood Suckers—98%
- Starmania—97%
In all fairness, little has changed in regards to the house edge of many table games. Blackjack has a 1% house edge, just like it did since its invention. European roulette has a 2.7% house advantage while keno still holds the title for worst house edge at 40%.
Mobile Support
In the beginning, neither video games nor online casinos supported mobile gaming. If you wanted to have a little bit of online entertainment, you needed a PC or a console.
Today, you can play all your favorite casino games through a hand-held mobile device. It could be an old iPhone or a cheap Android device. If it connects to the Internet and loads web pages on a browser, it can support casino games.
Now, not every online casino game operates on smartphones. This is particularly true for classic slot machines. Some of them were designed to run on PC computers entirely. And they were never updated to work on mobile devices.
That’s alright, though. Eight out of 10 online casino games operate on mobile devices smoothly. As such, there are hundreds of games you can play on your smartphone.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Slots have not changed much in how they work. You pick a game, place a bet, and hit play for the reels to spin. If the reels stop spinning on a pay line, you get paid accordingly.
Although the basics of slots haven’t changed, a lot has changed in regards to mechanics. In the old days, all you did was hit play and wait to discover whether you had won or lost.
Nowadays, games are pretty interactive. You need to adjust bet sizes and the number of pay lines. Then not only do you hit play for the reels to spin, but you might also need to choose a side or make moves that could influence what you win.
In other words, slots are more sophisticated in 2022 than they were in 2002. Some slots actually support skillful elements. Some games pay you more if you’re accurate at hitting objects.
When it comes to table games, the mechanics have remained largely the same. The rules of blackjack haven’t changed. The goal is to beat a dealer in a hand of 21. With roulette, the goal is still to predict where the wheel stops spinning.
Live Casino Games
Live casino gaming is one of the best things to have happened to the industry. It changed how people play roulette, blackjack, baccarat, and other table games entirely.
Think about it. At the best live casinos, you can play poker with your friends through a video link. You can see and talk to them. You can trade jokes and even tip the dealer.
Essentially, live casino gaming is like gambling at the best Las Vegas casinos. It’s a social activity often elevated with the help of VR. With that in mind, Evolution Gaming is the most popular supplier of live casino games.
Game Variants
Online casino games might not have changed so much in their basics, but they’ve bred tons of variants. Almost every genre of casino games has multiple versions. This helps spice up gameplay.
Think of slots. As we mentioned earlier, you can play slots based on crime, sports, politics, or ancient Egypt. With table games, variants have different rules than the original games.
Take blackjack as an example. The original blackjack pays out 3:2 or 6:5 when you beat the dealer. Most variants have similar goals. However, the rules about splitting cards, hitting standing and taking insurance bets to vary.
In light of that information, it’s incredibly important to read the rules of a game before you play it. Find out how Omaha differs from Texas Hold’em before you risk your money. Learn about jackpot rules, bonuses, and everything that can influence how often and how much you win.
