Online casinos are a natural fit for the online world, and since their inception in the late 1990s, they've quickly become a favourite way to play for many. They're also, however, complicated services consisting of many moving parts. While this might not be obvious to the average player, the work performed by online casinos to keep their websites running requires them to address a huge number of challenges, one of the most important of which is reach.
Though online casinos are available in practically every country in the world, there aren't any websites which can be played in every country. Instead, each casino needs to carefully cater its offerings to select audiences, and then support its decision with the right hardware and legal requirements. So, why does this happen, and is it possible for an online casino service to truly become worldwide?
"Online-Pokern" (CC BY 2.0) by wuestenigel
Concentration Means Quality
A jack of all trades is a master of none, which is why many websites out there choose their audiences carefully before the first line of code is written. This is illustrated by the services on the site Canadian-sports-betting.com. Here, websites like Bet365 and Caesars Sportsbook set their sights on, among others, players within Canadian borders. With the target, managing the website means understanding the local language and the love of specific sports like the NHL. By taking a direct approach like this, the services can better serve their customers over mobile, desktop, and tablet systems.
On the other hand, if an online casino was to set its sights on everyone, then it would up a confusing, complicated, and expensive pursuit. Local slang in one area might be confusing or even offensive in another, and some places might love sports that others don’t value at all. These challenges would exacerbate further by licensing.
Legal Requirements
To ensure the safety of gambling, online casinos and sportsbooks are required to qualify for licenses which are accepted by their governments. In the above example, Canadian licenses need to be accepted by The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario at agco.ca. Qualification means meeting strict criteria, and these criteria can be very different in different countries.
This challenge is then pushed even further by how some countries like those at sportsecyclopedia.com are yet to offer any form of online gaming. Though increasingly more countries are opening their borders to online systems, some are still playing catch up, so in these instances, there are no licenses that could gain players and services access.
Now and the Future
Thanks to these reasons, an online casino service becoming truly worldwide is not possible right now, though it could be theoretically possible in the future. This would first require all countries to legalise online betting, and after this point, all of the correct licenses would need to be acquired. Just as importantly, a website would then need to offer many different versions so it can be perfectly understood across all countries and cultures.
"Sports Betting concept" (CC BY 2.0) by wuestenigel
Ultimately, the state of online casinos where they exist right now is likely to remain, and that can be a good thing. Websites with a finite scope are better able to understand and cater to their players, and combined with an ongoing concern about quality, this can help guarantee a superior product. Besides, even the more limited online casino is still far broader in reach than anything offered in the brick-and-mortar landscape.
