Industry News
Online gambling in 2019: useful tips & tricks
Whether you’re an occasional dabbler on the bingo or a serious online gambler, there’s no doubt that the industry is growing fast.
In this blog, we’ll look at some of the tricks and tips that today’s savvy online gamblers are using, and some ways in which you can keep yourself safe when enjoying a flutter, such as by using a VPN. (And yes, we’ve got the top rated free VPNs listed here to save you time and money!)
The growth of online gambling
In the UK alone, gambling is now a £14.4 bn industry, and £2.0 bn of this alone comes from online slots. With a growth rate of almost 10pc annually predicted between 2017-2023, online gambling is expected to be worth a whopping £57 billion on a global scale by 2023.
Simply go online and you’ll find a vast number of online casinos offering everything from bingo and slots through to sophisticated games by leading developers, card games, table games and more.
The allure of online gambling is clear:
1. The appeal of winning big!
2. Ease of getting started – you can gamble online via an app or website
3. A community aspect with games such as Bingo offering chat and social forums
4. New games being constantly released
5. The chance to gamble anonymously
6. The opportunity to game or gamble at any time of day, or wherever you are (hello boring meeting!)
Tips and tricks to get the most from online gambling.
The saying says that you can’t beat the house – but you can employ some tips and tricks to get the most from your online gambling experience.
1. Make use of free gaming facilities
Most online casinos give you the chance to try out games for free. Make use of these offers to learn the ins and outs of the game before you start to wager with your cash.
2. Use the ‘stop-limit’ facility
Casinos of all kinds rely on players getting over-excited in their quest to win and exceeding their personal wager budgets. Use the responsible gaming features that good online casinos offer, such as limiting the funds that you deposit, setting stop limits on wager amounts and preventing automatic ‘add funds’ from your card when playing. In the heat of the moment, these measures can prevent a heavy loss and that feeling of dread that sets in!
3. Take advantage of free offers
Most online casinos offer sign-up incentives, regular player bonuses (such as free slots) and competitions. Look out for these and make use of them!
4. Know why you gamble
Lots of people enjoy playing online casinos as a leisure hobby and for the social side. If they can’t get out of the house, a flutter on an online bingo site can be great fun. But if you suspect you may have a potential gambling problem, educate yourself to recognise the signs and seek help. Gambling can easily become an addiction and very few gamblers ever end up ‘on top’ with their winnings in the long-term.
5. Speaking of which…
Know when to stop. If you win money, then exit the game and enjoy it. Don’t do what online casinos rely on their customers doing – re-entering the game in the thrill of the moment in the hope of winning even more (and then losing it!)
6. Consider matched betting
Matched betting is an advanced strategy which sees gamers use multiple betting platforms to offset bets and to take advantage of free plays to end up winning money overall. There are websites that can teach you how to match bet, and if you do it correctly, you can bet ‘risk-free’. It’s a complex strategy, although some people do make thousands from it.
Needless to say though, the online gambling industry takes a dim view of matched betting, although it isn’t illegal. You can protect your anonymity and prevent your accounts from being closed down by suspicious online gambling sites by using software such as a VPN. Let’s look at this in more detail.
The security angle
When you gamble online, there is always the risk that your internet connection is compromised in some way. Hackers are smart and motivated and online gamblers – with their card details in particular – are perfect targets for financial and identity theft. So how can you protect yourself?
1. Use a VPN
A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is a service that puts a piece of protective software onto your device – desktop, phone, laptop or tablet. You activate it before you go online and it tunnels your data through a secure network, masks your IP address by re-routing it and encrypts your data so that it is unreadable. This multi-layer security approach is ideal and means that no one can even detect that you are online, let alone see or access your data.
There are various VPN services available and some are even free – although it’s worth looking at our review carefully as not all free services will offer the full multi-security offer that paid-for services do (such as kill switches that instantly disable your internet connection if the VPN goes down for a second for any reason.)
2. Use reputable sites
Never use an online casino that doesn’t abide by the rules. Read the small print carefully and check that it is licensed. Look for the ‘https’ and trustmarks that show the site is secure.
3. Look for encrypted log-in points
A reputable casino will have password protection and probably even offer an RSA code device for a fresh access password on every log-in.
4. Trusted payments
Good sites will offer payments through all the big and trusted credit cards. Some may offer cryptocurrency payments too such as BitCoin for greater anonymity.
5. Anti-fraud measures
Good online casinos will typically have an online fraud team that use sophisticated tools and analysis to see if players are operating fraudulently or if suspicious activity is happening on the site. Look through the FAQ to find details of this or ask the customer services team for further information.
With your VPN in place and your other ‘trustmarks’ checked, you can enjoy your online gambling safely and securely – and perhaps even win some cash in the process!
Industry News
Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.
When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.
One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.
Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.
As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.
First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.
On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.
Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.
When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.
Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.
Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.
I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.
Industry News
Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal
In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform
Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.
The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.
Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.
The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.
EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.
Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.
This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).
Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.
“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”
Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”
Industry News
Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0
The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.
More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.
The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.
Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.
The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.
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