10 November 2019
By Roger Jones
roger@TheCork.ie
Entertainment
It’s long been known that gambling is a popular pastime in Ireland. Horse racing is one of the biggest markets, drawing crowds of punters in regularly, but online gambling has become one of the industry’s main players over the past few years.
It’s not easy to pinpoint the reason for this shift — mainly because there are actually a number of factors behind it.
One is the substantial rise in the number of casino sites available to players. Just browsing a site such as CasinoBillions shows the wealth of different casinos available to customers in Ireland today.
This increase in the choice available to players means punters of all tastes can enjoy their favourite games in the comfort of their own home, without needing to compromise or feel as if they’re missing out.
More options and better tech
The introduction of far more betting options has made gambling a much more palatable choice for consumers over the last decade. Players can place a wager in a large number of different ways now, which is why online gambling has actually started to compete with brick-and-mortar venues.
Since the online gambling regulations came in during 2015, it’s believed that up to 12% of the adult population in Ireland has gambled online at some point. This shows that online gambling’s user-friendly format and 24/7 accessibility is appealing to a good number of people (more than a ninth of the population, in fact).
It’s not just the greater level of choice that has given consumers the impetus to gamble online: the technology has improved considerably as well. Players have access to far more advanced games now than they have at any other point in history.
Online casinos have been around almost as long as the internet has, but innovations like live casinos are relatively new.
These advances have made online casinos a much more exciting, diverse place for players. Video slots offer just as much as slot machines in a brick-and-mortar casino — even the aforementioned live casinos deliver a realistic casino buzz. Especially with developers like Evolution Gaming continuously pushing the envelope to create new and better experiences.
While it’s unlikely that brick-and-mortar casinos will ever be completely wiped out, the current direction of online casinos means traditional venues could take second-place to their digital counterparts as time goes on.
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