Developing technology makes online gambling more enjoyable and productive. For example, using a Bonuses Finder service, you can find promotions and access hundreds of different games without even leaving your home. In the near future, you will be able to do even more: augmented reality (AR) technology can turn your home into a real casino.
“VR technology did not deliver as expected, but that is not the case for AR,” says Casino Bonuses Finder Product Owner Tony Sloterman. “We already have this technology: if you have a smartphone with a camera, you are ready to use it.” Below, we’ll talk about what AR technology can do for the iGaming industry.
What is augmented reality?
Augmented reality is not actually a new technology, it has been used since the 1990s. However, this technology, which required special equipment at that time, has now become “portable” thanks to smartphones and game consoles since 2015. Remember the Pokémon GO mobile game that was released in 2016? When you turn on your smartphone’s camera and point it to the real world, virtual creatures are added to what you see on the screen. This is what AR is: technically, this technology is defined as an interactive experience that combines computer-generated content with the real world.
All it takes for AR is a lens and software to add virtual objects to the image obtained using that lens. So, it can be used not only with smartphones but also with smart glasses. It is even possible to use this technology with contact lenses: these devices, called “bionic lenses”, already have prototypes and the US military shows great interest in them. A project run by the University of Washington aims to take it one step further and create a “virtual retinal display”. This project has the potential to cure even blindness. AR technology offers a wide variety of usage scenarios due to its flexibility and ease of implementation and can be used in many different industries such as archaeology, architecture, education, search & rescue, video games, navigation, and translation. One of them is iGaming: AR offers great potential for online gambling.
How can augmented reality be used in iGaming?
To explain this, we first need to briefly talk about how live casino technology works. Live casino games are real-time streams over the internet and anyone who wishes can join them from anywhere in the world. Simply put, a dealer places webcams around the gaming table and starts a live broadcast. You can join this broadcast with other players and play against a real person. The dealer can see the decisions you make on the screens in front of him. You can play games such as blackjack, poker, roulette, and even participate in live game shows.
But live casino games are a “two-dimensional” experience: yes, everything you see on the screen happens in real time and playing like that is a much more immersive experience than playing against the computer. But at the end of the day, you’re still watching a live stream and your interaction options are limited. Augmented reality technology, on the other hand, can completely change this and turn any place you are into a real casino.
Let’s say you’re in your living room, putting on your smart glasses, and participating in a live casino game: in such a game, you can see the dealer standing right in front of you. Your dining table can turn into a blackjack table. The dealer will not be a computer-generated image: you can interact with a real person. In other words, you can talk to him or even see your desk mates and communicate with them. This is still a live stream, but it is backed by augmented reality. AR technology can turn your home into an actual Las Vegas casino: you can view a live broadcast from a real casino in the background.
Such an experience will be much more realistic and immersive, as you can imagine. You can visit the world’s most famous casinos in one night and be a part of the live broadcasts from each of them. AR technology will change many industries, but for iGaming, these changes may be more radical than others: online gambling can change forever.
