Will Traditional Casinos Eventually Disappear?

Those that have been following the gambling industry lately may be aware that many conventional casinos are closing due to low profit figures. You may easily attribute this to tough economic times, but the actual reason may be somewhat unexpected: online revenue from virtual casinos is at an all-time high. The same way online shopping has led to the closure of countless traditional shops, online gambling has become a very attractive option to people that love convenience and simplicity.

What is common to hear every other day is that virtual casinos are raking in unbelievable amounts of income in short periods of time. To put things in perspective, if you take a look at the last 10 years of statistics in online gambling revenue, you’ll see that the growth has been staggering. In 2002, the total revenue was near the 5 billion USD mark; by 2012 the numbers are over 25 billion USD. These profit figures from the virtual gambling industry show us in bold letters that online gambling is an unquestionable success. Dedicated online gambling websites such as thepogg.com are now commonplace.

Why has online gambling been such an incredible success? Setting up a brick-and-mortar casino is very costly and sometimes needs quite a lot of time to gain momentum. Online casinos are much more forgiving in this department. If we follow the industry’s history over the last 15 years, we can clearly see that online casinos started off slow but steady when they were first introduced back in the late 90’s. Once internet availability became widespread on a global scale, online casinos became a solid option for those that wanted a different, more convenient experience from the traditional brick-and-mortar casino. By the late 2000’s the virtual casino industry had already cemented its powerful presence. Thanks to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, the industry’s growth and evolution continued towards a straight path. People that hadn’t tried online gambling up to that point found that it was incredibly easy and accessible to join for the first time thanks to their IPhones or IPads.

It’s difficult to visualize a world where conventional casinos become extinct. It will probably happen, but don’t hold your breath. It’s probably going to be a few decades until the traditional casino model becomes obsolete and all you’ll see are various forms of virtual gambling. For now, the casino’s evolution will most likely continue to grow upon the multiple forms that virtual gambling has taken.