Gambling And The Metaverse

Speculation on what the Metaverse could represent for the gambling industry is not difficult to find. On the one hand, some think it could be a technology that facilitates gambling experiences never before possible and usher in a new age of gambling. On the other, many still see this complex digital world as quite incompatible with the world of gambling. Is the Metaverse all hype for those who game, or is it a new horizon?

Before we dive into the debate, it is worth describing what the Metaverse is and how it functions. The Metaverse, as we understand it, is a digital universe accessible via a virtual reality headset. Within this universe are games, social applications, and other interactive content like auctions. The idea is that you build an avatar that represents you in this world and (using the various controls and headset) use it to interact with content that exists in this space.

What applications this digital cyber world has for the world of gaming is still difficult to define. However, this hasn’t stopped gambling companies from investing in the technology. For example, Entain announced this year that it would be setting up a “global innovation hub” that will be investing £100m in disruptive technologies, including those for use in the Metaverse.

However, like many companies across industries, gambling organizations are still trying to figure out exactly how they will try and leverage this new technology. To take the words of Relax Gaming chief product officer Simon Hammon: “We’ve got a vague sense of what things currently exist in what we call the metaverse, yet I don’t think anyone truly understands or knows what it actually is.”

But hang on, don’t digital universes already exist? Isn’t World of Warcraft, Fortnite, or any other digital reality technically a digital universe? Why have so many companies started investing frenetically in something that isn’t new? What makes the Metaverse so special?

According to Rarerthings founder Stefan Kovach the key difference is that people will actually be able to demonstrably own things in the Metaverse using NFTs or non-fungible tokens. This brokering of items and services will be, in turn, controlled by blockchain currencies such as BitCoin.

This process of trade means that a whole economy can exist within the Metaverse that is decentralized and district from real life. The important thing about the items you buy in the Metaverse, in contrast to standard games, is that the item can operate in every game or Metaverse. This then creates a much larger community where players can buy and sell things across games and universes rather than just within the confines of a specific game. This is all enabled by the ubiquitously used and distributed blockchain currencies that have relevance in every aspect of the Metaverse.

But what does all this mean for the gambling industry? Well, first and foremost, players will be able to have a more immersive digital experience when playing games in contrast to playing something on a screen. Thus, players could theoretically feel like they are really in a casino on the Las Vegas strip when in their living rooms. They will be able to touch the cards and move chips like they are really at the tables.

Some companies such as LynxBet are already creating their own small metaverses where players can come and experience games in a completely different way to typical online casinos, involving 3D gaming and virtual social networks.

The other main draw for the Metaverse in regard to gambling industry innovations is the NFT and trading in these new and exciting items that exist nowhere else.

Will this new type of gambling take off, though, and what are the factors that will control its rise or decline? As with almost any new gaming technology that needs a lot of people to function to be profitable, metaverse gambling will live or die based on how popular it becomes and if communities take to it wholesale.

For example, imagine that you are very excited about what the world of the Metaverse offers and the amazing games that give you a novel and incredible experience. However, when you go into the lobby, there is no one else there. Yes, you might play for the sake of novelty for a while, but you are unlikely to stay as the rest of your friends aren’t there to share in the experience.

Being social creatures, even if we don’t feel like directly interacting with other people, we want to be around them and enjoy the atmosphere of being in a place that other people like and accept. Some experts refer to this as the critical mass issue. Once you have reached a point where enough users find the experience rewarding and want to stay, you are likely to find that you have a sustainable population.

However, whether this will happen in a widespread capacity for the Metaverse is still up for debate. One of the major issues preventing people from engaging in the technology is the setup, which requires a lot of financial and time investment. Virtual headsets aren’t cheap, and setting up accounts with a new network can be challenging and time-consuming.

If people aren’t keen to get on board in the first place and if surveys come back saying people are unlikely to want to get into the Metaverse, funding will also be cut, which will begin a spiral that ends in companies abandoning their Metaverse projects.

If companies can convince people that the experiences are amazing, the costs are worth it, and their friends are likely to come along, metaverse gambling may have a chance.

The final issue that this new type of gambling faces is regulation. Governments and gambling authorities have yet to get a proper grip on regulating online gambling as a whole. How can we expect them to be able to wrap their heads around a whole new system that uses an entirely new currency that has no relation to convention bank centralized monetary systems?

Then the question becomes, how stringently should authorities govern the Metaverse? On the one hand, coming in too hard with rules and regulations could harm take up numbers, as they become confused by a barrage of new information and decide to save themselves the headache. Left too loose, though, and player welfare could become an issue. And once the Metaverse gets a reputation for being an unsafe gambling space, that could also kill it.

At the moment, there seem to be too many variables to call the success of the Metaverse, yet there is promise in the experiences it can offer. The main thing will be if any product can make it to critical mass and become successful. Because once that happens, you better believe there will be more and more until the technology as whole blooms.