Slot Sites Remain the Crowd Puller for Gambling Firms
Even as gambling regulation in the UK and elsewhere has tightened over the past couple of years, there’s little doubt that online slots remain the cash cow for gambling operators.
What’s true for Las Vegas is also the case online; casinos generate most of their revenue through their slot machines. That’s interesting because it’s also a known fact that most high-rollers can be found at the blackjack or roulette table. However, the high frequency of slots and instant wins makes the machines a crowd winner wherever you go.
Operators Will Continue to Launch New Sites in 2022
Due to the game’s popularity, it is no surprise that software firms launch new online slots by the minute. Developers like NetEnt, Push Gaming, or Pragmatic Play launch new games each month, trying to give players an even broader and more exciting choice.
As games catalogues get bigger and bigger, online casinos often refuse to add new games to their existing platforms to avoid bloating. Instead, they are launching new slot sites to create a level of novelty and potentially attract a new clientele.
Although the launch of new casino sites has slowed down a little – mostly due to stricter regulation and smaller operators actually leaving markets – nothing suggests that we won’t see new slot sites entering the market in 2022.
How Do Online Casinos Earn Money With Slots?
As we’ve talked about (online) slots being the cash cow for casinos, it’s worth looking at how they generate money. In principle, it’s easy to understand when you know the term RTP, which stands for Return to Player.
Each slot game has a predefined return rate that typically sits between 94 and 98%. In the latter case, it means that for every £1 wagered, the machine returns 98 pence. That percentage figure is measured over time and usually requires hundreds of thousands of spins to become true. Therefore, the casino can expect to earn the remaining 2% or 2 pence of each £1.
If you think about how many players hit the machines per day and how much money they wager, you quickly understand that 2% can turn into a huge chunk of money, hence referring to slots as cash cows.
However, in online gambling, casinos do not take home the entire house edge but instead share it with the slot’s provider. While it’s typically not a 50/50 split, it’s up to the casino and games developer to negotiate the revenue share agreement.
The rules and regulations around house edge and the likelihood of winning are complex. Still, if you’d like to deep-dive into the topic, we suggest referring to the Gambling Commission’s guidance to licensing authorities.
Besides online slots, you can still expect to see some table games hit the market in 2022 as well. Unfortunately, game developers are more reluctant to launch new games in that niche due to less flexibility. The rules around a game like blackjack are fixed, making it hard to add interactive or innovative features like special types of wild and scatter symbols or increase the ways to win.
However, keep in mind that table games tend to have much higher RTP rates, often in the 99% range, so it might be worth it to skip a lower novelty factor for a higher chance to win.
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