What Would Metaverse Gambling Be Like?

The Metaverse and talk about this three-dimensional living world have picked up pace ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company is developing this new, game-changing online world. The phrase ‘game-changer’ may be a big understatement if we look at the actual potential of this online world. If it delivers what Zuckerberg says it will, our lives could change completely. Quite a big thought to take on, but that is exactly what the Metaverse brings. Life-changing experiences that no one has ever experienced before. Exciting, right? A little bit scary too! Let’s look at it in more detail.

What Is The Metaverse?

The Metaverse is set to change everything, from how we chat to friends, shop, watch music concerts, and all the way through to gambling. And it’s the gambling aspect that we will be stepping into in this article. Gambling is already a multi-billion-pound industry, but what will that be like in the Metaverse? In short, it’s an exciting prospect and one that has many potential lanes it can go down.

But before we dive into that brand new virtual world, let’s explain what a Metaverse actually is. The phrase ‘Metaverse’ was coined in Snow Crash, a Neil Stephenson novel published in 1992. In the book, the Metaverse is acting as the next generation of the world wide web, where people modify personal avatars and interact with each other in a 3D virtual world. You can imagine how far the ideas and possibilities have come since 1992, especially with how tech continues to grow at astonishing speeds.

Zuckerberg no doubt has had this in his back pocket for a while and has been waiting for the right moment to bring this creation to life - sorry, make that virtual life! Each passing year brings bigger and brighter ideas to the table, thanks to the technology that never seems to slow down.

Online Casino VR Experiences

The ideas surrounding the Metaverse are all well and good, but how do you access this virtual world? Well, the technology is already here in the shape of VR headsets. These headsets have been a sticking point for a few years, mainly because of the cost price. Headsets such as the HTC Vive Cosmos or the Oculus Quest are available right now, but you need to fork out hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds and ensure your PC is powerful enough to run the headsets, which requires more money.

It's expensive stuff, but we have already seen attempts at creating virtual online casinos with players walking around the casino, sitting at tables, and playing slots or blackjack. The problem has always remained that the VR headsets required to access these casinos were too expensive for the general public. It’s not something that is quite ready yet, so most gambling fans stick to the popular websites when they want to enjoy a wide-ranging selection of online slots at Rainbowspins.com, for example.

Funding Your Metaverse Casino Accounts

We’ve talked about the cost of the technology required to access the Metaverse, and although costs are high, you can expect this to come right down once the Metaverse goes online. It’s intended for the public, so it would make no sense to price the technology out of the pockets of those who will be using it. But once you are inside this virtual world and have walked up and through the virtual casino doors, how will you start placing bets? What will you use to spin the slot reels? How will you double down on blackjack? And how will you place your favoured roulette bets?

Zuckerberg initially commented that NFTs would be available to use inside the Metaverse. Whether this becomes a reality remains to be seen. However, the likes of Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum stand a very good chance of being some of the Metaverse currencies. It kind of makes sense, right?

People worldwide are already funding crypto casino accounts, so that would make the process a lot smoother using a currency that is already in circulation – digitally, anyway!

Will Zuckerberg introduce a new currency? Never say never when this man is involved. ZuckerCoin, anyone? We’ve seen crazier things happen!

Will Our Gambling Experiences Change?

Online casinos initially took the environmental factors out of the whole gambling experience. It was you, your computer, and some video-based gambling games. Be it slots, roulette, craps, blackjack, it was you betting on an RNG computer game. Things quickly evolved, though. Nowadays, you can find live casino games with professional dealers streamed into your mobile device when you are out and about or travelling on the bus. It’s a bit more sociable. So, gambling in the Metaverse is set to almost take us full circus and bring us back to an experience where we interact with other people. Only this time, it will be in a virtual world and not down your local brick-and-mortar casino.

Those are the obvious changes. But there are also some lesser-known factors at play here. For example, can you imagine the types of games that the Metaverse might be able to offer you? Of course, you will have thousands of slots and table games to explore and play through because that is what casinos are built on. Still, technology should be able to make these games more immersive.

Getting up close and personal to the reels on a slot or spinning the reels with your hands instead of clicking a button or pulling the lever. Or how about actually playing the bonus games with physical motions?

All of this would be possible through the headset. It’s a fascinating subject that casino game developers are undoubtedly already trying to get their heads around. Don’t also forget that gambling becomes much more active when you have this VR headset involved. Sitting in front of a screen would still be one of the options available to you, but everything becomes a lot more real when you enter the virtual world as you move your head around, move your arms about, and interact with the casino environment.

The Future Of Gambling

It’s not likely that we will all be wandering the virtual casinos any time soon, especially not in the next year or so. But those first experiences may come sooner than we think. We already know that VR experiences are accessible through the likes of the Oculus headsets, and those games will only get better and more immersive as time goes on. Will the online casino website become obsolete? We doubt that very much. Virtual worlds will not be everyone’s cup of tea, that is for sure. It has taken years for the older generation to get used to gambling on websites, so I doubt making the jump to the virtual world will be much easier.

We will likely see a constant integration of all these technologies over the coming years. It’s not like we will wake up one day, and the Metaverse will be ready and waiting. It’s a far too big and technical project for that to happen. Once it gets into full swing, though, there is no denying that some of the online gambling environment will be impacted, but that’s where the innovation and forward-thinking skills of the top game providers and casino operators will be required. Those who get on top of the ideas now will be the ones opening their virtual casino doors in those opening weeks and months.

Like the online casino boom from the late 90s to the present day, those who made the leap first usually came up successful. People like to put their money and trust into experienced casino brands, so again, those first casinos in the Metaverse will be crucial. Of course, nobody gets it perfect, and there will be other casino brands waiting in the wings to see how everything plays out. One thing is for sure, and that is whatever or however this Metaverse comes about, it’s going to be a big game-changer for gambling and pretty much everything else.

One last thing, it’s not just the Metaverse you need to think about. Many other tech companies are designing their own versions, so there may be multiple virtual worlds that you can drop in and out of. Mind blown!

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes