Virtual reality or shortly, VR, has its roots in the early 1950s where very large and clunky devices were used to bring people a glimpse into what today would be considered rudimentary virtual reality. With the upgrade of technology, the ever-shrinking lithography of both CPUs and GPUs, virtual reality in high resolutions is available through less clunky machinery.
Headsets are popular today, as they create an immersive experience and isolate the person from outside stimuli. High-resolution videos or scenes are rendered and can be viewed similarly to how you would perceive the outside world while moving.
So, how to casinos fit here?
Virtual Casinos – The Future of Gambling?
Virtual Casinos are a relatively novel concept as virtual reality itself has yet to take off really. Surely enough, there are headsets which you can purchase like the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, yet the hardware has to advance, the software and much more.
But, that hasn’t stopped people from trying their hardest to make virtual reality a thing even now, in its adolescence.
What do virtual casinos look like? Well, they’re pretty rare (although you may find Bonus at Tropicana) for starters but there are some games which you can play, notably on a couple of sites.
The first site to come out with actual VR casino games was Slots Million and as the name implies, the game was a slot machine game. They actually have an entire 3D VR casino. You can enter it and walk to different slot machines and do your thing, as you would in normal casinos.
NetEnt also has a couple of slot machine games, which pour virtual coins if you happen to win, with a crowd there to back you up.
Microgaming demoed a VR roulette game, with a robot as your dealer.
There is also a blackjack game where you sit with a drink next to you and a dealer in front of you, with some empty seats by your side.
Can Virtual Casinos Take Over?
Sure, they can, but they need to be interactive and include other people. As humans are sociable creatures, many would enjoy playing poker, blackjack and even roulette with actual people around them, even in virtual reality. Having many people in a 3D casino would also be amazing, not to mention a fertile ground for many laughs as you ghost through their models in the early stages of development.
Once the hardware is good enough to support a non-nauseating experience which is as predictable and reliable as human eye movement and balance and casinos implement actual virtual people at a poker table, you might see a boom in VR.
While there might be that one solitary person who likes to play blackjack alone or poker against AI, many more will be much more interested in playing against other people and actually seeing their expressions.
Virtual reality is here to stay and it is only getting started. While there are few casino games and they lack in diversity, more will definitely be created in the years to come.
