Over the past few decades, the gambling industry has grown immensely. From just a few casino and betting sites, to a multi billion dollar industry, producing thousands of games every year alongside hosting various e-sports tournaments, where players compete for serious money as their full time work. But other than just the console and time spent in front of the TV or computer, how else have casino games revolutionized our lives? “Gambling” has become a habit, sport, free time activity and business industry in more ways than initially imaginable.
The nature of consumerism really takes any idea or habit and turns it into so much more. Casino games, for example, started off as a pair of a purchasable console and some certain casino game. Today, gambling concerns the casino game, be it as purchased on a disk, through a subscription service (and don’t forget in-game purchases!) or through the hoard of casino platforms online, like those new casinos in Ireland. Many other industries have felt the impact of casino game industry growth on the demand of certain derived, complementary goods like gambling chairs, special gambling desks and more. Basically, put “gambling” in front of any product or service and you have something sellable that has come as a result of the growth of the gambling over the last few decades.
Payments and banking
Perhaps not as exciting as its furnite industry counterpart, but the payments services and banking industries have also adapted their business model by including more services geared towards gambling. Gambling for hobby or work – pleasure or profession – requires quite a lot of money, and because of the growth of subscription services as a form of payment, gamers may find themselves juggling payments for games and other complementary services quite often. Banks have introduced special budgeting and payments services options for gamers and gambling-related costs, the same way you may have them for water, electricity or utility bills in general. New companies have entered the market to offer betting and gambling services, like Neteller, Skrill, PayPal and many more. We may even suggest that big businesses are finally realizing that gambling is a genuine part of life, and therefore is a habit, for many people around the world; and a habit which requires cost management and, in many cases, monthly payments.
Other than gambling having a big impact on the lifecycle of our wallets, it is also a major capture of our attention. Much like social media, news and other recreational activities, casino games compete to capture as much of our attention as possible. Streaming casino games has become as much a hobby as profession as streaming casino games requires a streamer as well as an audience. Instead of other 9-5 jobs, individuals can become successful streamers while, instead of watching sports games on the weekends, individuals can come back home and watch their favourite streamer play casino games. This changes the business landscape for advertisers and big firms, as no longer are they reaching out to ComCast, FOX news, or other major tv channels and networks, but, instead, sole streamers or smaller businesses.
In conclusion, the video gambling industry has been rapidly growing over the past few decades, but its growth has also deeply revolutionized the fundamental business models of other industries and has driven demand for other complementary goods. It will be interesting to see how much further our daily lives can evolve, everything from what we spend out daily 24 hours doing, as well as the products and services we interact with. Video gambling now has become as much of a profession, social activity and free time activity as anything else in today’s world, but it’s still growing.