It might be oversimplifying things to an extent, but we can broadly talk about three major milestones that chart the almost 30-year history of the online casino sector. In the 1990s, there was the rise of the internet casino, using fledgling software to allow players to play casino games on PC. In the late 2000s, there was the launch of mobile casinos and casino apps. And in the mid to late-2010s, we saw the roll-out of the first live casino games, allowing players to play with real dealers, cards, dice, and so via a stream to their device.
While all of those milestones brought changes to how players experience casino games, the most disruptive to the actual fabric of that experience has arguably come with the latter, live dealer games. To explain: it felt like the end of a long journey when the first live casino games arrived. After years of trying to deliver exactly what players would find in a land-based casino, operators were able to offer ‘real’ blackjack, poker, roulette, and so on. But the question, then, was where to go next? And the answer seems to be what has been termed casino game shows.
Monopoly Live Exemplifies the Casino Game Show
A casino game show title is a broad term for any live casino game that does not follow the traditional model. A good example is Monopoly Live (Evolution Gaming), which offers players the chance to bet on a spinning wheel, with bonus games taking place on a 3D Monopoly board. The action plays out in a studio, and the croupier acts more like a host than a casino dealer; hence we get the game show terminology.
These games have become hugely popular, to such an extent that it’s worth asking whether traditional games like roulette can keep up. TLDR, the answer is yes. Playing roulette at online casinos remains popular, both in live form and in software-based games. Game shows are popular, sure, but they have yet to pass the test of longevity like roulette, poker, and blackjack have. Indeed, making the argument that the new genre of casino games will supplant the old is a bit like saying video games will replace sports, which people have been saying since the era of the first Atari consoles.
Moreover, it should be noted that traditional games have also been incorporated into the game show sphere. For example, versions of roulette like Playtech’s Quantum Roulette and Blackjack, Age of the Gods Roulette, as well as Lightning Roulette (Evolution) have all been launched to ride the wave of the tv game show boom. These games keep the core of their source material at their hearts, but they offer players the chance to play for bigger prizes amid a game-show-style setting.
Metaverse may drive new casino gaming experiences
Of course, long term, we do not know how all these trends will play out. It has been opined that these game show casino games will be well suited for metaverse-like experiences. The likes of Meta (formerly Facebook) and Apple are putting huge resources into VR technology, which will allow the blurring of reality. You can see the attraction for casino players, possibly (virtually) stepping into the studio to roll the dice for games like Monopoly Live. However, we can also argue that VR technology will be well suited to traditional card games like poker. Wouldn’t players like to take their seats at the (virtual) table and look into the eyes of their opponents as they might at a real poker table?
In the end, roulette and other games will probably benefit from the renewed interest in casino games driven by the game show titles. Online, it’s not as if games are fighting for space. You can technically have an unlimited amount of games on an online casino platform, so there is room for all types of games and experiences. New trends will come and go, but it’s a sure bet that games like roulette and poker will be casino staples 50 years from now. In fact, the only question is whether we can say the same about the current trendsetters in casino game shows.
