Digital transformation

If all forms of Online Gaming (Either via PC or Phone over some kind of network) is considered Digital play. Then where do we draw the lines between traditional casinos and online casinos? Or are they simply shades of grey slowly blending in to one?

If we can agree that Casino gaming is categorised in to the following:

1.    Digital, as above, (everything over Online)

2.    Electronic, (as in Slots or ETGs within the casino)

3.    Traditional, (as in a live player in a traditional casino with a live dealer)

Will there be a time when Digital or Electronic finally replace all traditional gaming? And if so, does it mean the demise of traditional live casinos action?

Certainly, there has been an uptake in gaming on Electronic Table type equipment or EGTs terminals over the last 5 years. This has been in some ways driven by efficiencies. EGTs basically offer limitless seats to one gaming table, so it makes sense. But newer and younger players including “millennials” seem to enjoy this action more.

Is this because dealing with computers or technology is less threatening than dealing with live dealers and chips? has our trust level shifted? Or are the younger up and coming gamblers just more tech savvy?

There are always people that will say the human element can never be removed, but will the effects of COVID 19 and Pandemics change the space even further? Do dealers wearing protective PPE face coverings and sitting behind plexiglass barriers only add to removing this human element?

Given restrictions relating to COVID19, has this affected the playing habits of players? Has social distancing on tables taken away some of the fun or communal feeling in the game?

Will back betting on baccarat tables seen in places like Macau be a thing of the past?

All this leads to the question of how important is it to play with actual casino chips over other forms or currencies or especially digital wallets?

We know of casinos in some countries where cash is used on traditional casino tables instead of chips without much effect on the play, albeit a little slower (plus the grubbiness of the bills stacked in the cash tray and the numerous hands that it’s been through).

If hygiene and Covid19 that worries players, will they be more comfortable playing digitally?

Could you replace chips with a digital wallet or a tablet that still play on live traditional tables in a casino? Ultimately this would allow better social distancing and given the trust in technology it could speed up the games and reduce running costs for casinos among other things.

Surely this technology leads us back to allowing players to bet on the same table with their own device online anywhere in the world. Blurring the lines of ONLINE and Traditional once again. Then the questions returns. Can tradition casinos compete with online play? Or do they simply have to embrace it for everything it offers?

Can traditional casinos attract players back to traditional games without adding something new and exciting? How will they break the habits their players may have grown used to over 2020?

Covid19 has changed everything, how we live, work and play, making everyone take a huge leap in to the digital world. People are now more comfortable doing e-commerce in all aspects of life, from ordering dinner, calling a taxi and all forms of entertainment and gaming.

I for one know that this year I’ve almost totally reduced the use and need for using cash, I can’t think when I last used it. 90% of my transactions have been done via my phone either by Apple Octopus or some other app.

If the world is going to protect its self from outbreaks and pandemics is it time we got rid of physical cash coins and even chips for ever. Let’s face it, in most places its dirty disgusting tatty paper and plastic we constantly pass back and forth with all kinds of germs on it.

Certainly besides hygiene, efficiencies, discrepancies and theft can be all reduced or even removed with a reliable system for digital currency.

In the casinos of tomorrow,

• how will payments and transactions be handled?

• Will TITO and rewards finally move to the digital wallet?

• Is it the end of Chips and Cash?

• Will traditional casinos finally adapt to accepting and issuing Crypto Currencies?

So where are the lines of distinction between online digital and traditional casinos?

The world is changing and so is the way we live in it, who would have once thought shopping malls could be obsolete.

“There is no alternative to digital transformation. Visionary companies will carve out new strategic options for themselves — those that don’t adapt, will fail.”

— Jeff Bezos, Amazon