The way we gamble has changed dramatically over the years, as new technology has continually been added to games and casinos. While the internet and smartphones have created some of the biggest changes in the industry, the main question now is whether smartwatches are going to give us the next major shift.
The History of Smartwatches
We need to go back to the mid-20th century to see the idea of wrist computers entering popular culture. While it was restricted to the world of science fiction for several decades, the arrival of digital watches in the 1970s set the scene for the smartwatches that would follow.
The Seiko models in the 1980s introduced storage space and let users connect to a keyboard or even a personal computer. Enhancements in the 1990s and at the start of the new century brought more powerful watches that allowed voice calls, weather updates, and even let us carry out basic coding tasks.
Currently, the leading smartwatches are sophisticated tools that many people use to monitor their health, enjoy their hobbies, and handle calls more conveniently. This article by CNET points out that the Apple Watch leads the market, with models including the Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE 3 all being useful for different types of users.
How Are Smartphones Used for Betting?
It’s now easy to find mobile casino apps, as playing on our mobile devices has become a huge industry. However, what might come as more of a surprise is that you can also now gamble and play games on the latest digital watches.
Playtech is a leading game developer that has created a sports betting app for the Apple Watch. Interestingly, it doesn’t stop at basic gambling, since it also allows cashing out early on live bets. This app is built on Playtech’s previous Android Wear sports betting app.
This means that fans can now place their bets, even if they’re sitting inside a stadium watching a game or following it at home. There’s no need to even use their smartphones to check the latest odds and wager, meaning that placing wagers becomes more efficient and convenient.
The Challenges of Creating Smartwatch Casino Games
Since many people have become used to tracking their health and fitness on their smartwatches, it’s an easy decision to start adding some of their leisure activities to them. With casino games now being a huge industry, some have already made the jump to these watches, but does it offer the same experience as mobile gambling?
The variety of casino games offered on Slots.lv shows the scale of the challenge faced by smartwatch game developers. People now expect a slots lobby that’s packed with numerous themed slots, each with unique features, such as bonus rounds, jackpots, and free spins.
They also expect access to a variety of high-end, popular features, such as cascading reels. That’s quite a challenge to replicate on a smartwatch!
Perhaps an even bigger challenge can be found in the popularity of live dealer games. These are a way of including a live professional dealer in the digital casino classics, like blackjack and roulette, as well as themed game shows. While the current versions look good on smartphones, adapting the live stream and detailed studio setting to the smaller screens of watches is likely to take some time.
Both the Apple Watch and the Android Wear systems have a list of apps that can be downloaded to play conveniently at any time. It’s perhaps no surprise that slots are the most common, since the simplicity and visual appeal of these games scale down well to the smaller watch screen.
However, you can also find some card games, like blackjack, that work well on a smartwatch. The basic gameplay is the same as you would find at any online casino, with an emphasis on offering a clear, uncluttered screen.
Roulette is less common, although it’s relatively easy to find roulette simulators that offer a casino look without any actual betting. As technology continues to improve, we can expect to see this, and other casino games, being added to our watches. It’s easy to forget that the idea of playing live-streamed games on our phones once sounded impossible, so it’s probably just a matter of time.
What Happens Next?
It’s clear that smartwatch gambling is still a long way from going mainstream. For this to happen, we’ll need to see significant growth in the number of these watches being used around the world.
When that happens, you can be sure that game developers will increase their efforts to give players the smoothest and most realistic way of playing the full range of casino games. Among the challenges to this happening is the fact that the variety of different watch designs means that the games will have to adapt to different shapes and sizes of screen.
Having seen the speed with which new gambling trends have taken hold in the last few years, however, it certainly wouldn’t be a major surprise to see watch-based betting become a major player in the near future.
