About Online Casino Technology

As online casinos begin to grow in popularity across the USA, many may be wondering how they work and how safe they are. In fact, legal gambling sites have existed across the world for over two decades, so American platforms benefit from tried and tested technology. In this guide to online casino technology, you’ll learn about these important features.

To get this guide started, we’ve discussed the current state of the legal online casino industry in the USA and the states that permit them. We’ve then looked at the online casino technology according to different categories, including the platforms, safety and security, the games, and the future technology set to debut. We invite you to read the whole guide, though you can also jump to each topic with the buttons below.

• The Rise of Online Casinos
• About the Technology
• The Platforms
• Safety and Security
• The Games
• Future Technologies

Online Casino Technology and The Rise of US Online Casinos

In 2012, Delaware became the first state to legalize online casino gambling, followed shortly after by New Jersey. However, Delaware’s options were and continue to be quite limited, whereas New Jersey’s market allowed for dozens of platforms that partnered with some of the biggest gambling companies in the world.

Many online casinos will host hundreds of classic, video and progressive slots, table games such as blackjack and roulette, and live dealer games. It’s also common to find online poker platforms and sportsbooks integrated into the sites. Mobile gambling has proven extremely popular, with all sites offering some form of welcome bonus.

Online casinos are now legal in:

• Michigan
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• West Virginia
• Delaware
• Connecticut

Online casinos in these states now generate more than $4 billion in revenues every year, with this number expected to get higher as more states look to online gambling expansion. There really has never been a better time to play at the best online casinos.

About the Casino Technology

It’s not small feat to bring the best high-quality games to thousands of players who are playing at once. Online casinos rely on a number of technologies to ensure a stable and reliable experience that is safe, secure, and fair. From its games to the platforms themselves, we’ve covered the online casino technology behind these top sites below.

Desktop and Mobile Software

When building their online casinos, many operators will rely on software developers that can build customized web platforms for their games and features. Often, these business-to-business (B2B) software providers will give websites the ability to source games, implement payment options, and offer user account controls under their own branding.

This is why it’s common to see platforms with the same owner sharing similar skins, such as NJ’s Borgata site with its BetMGM casino, and PA’s SugarHouse site with NJ’s BetRivers casino. Furthermore, developers will produce mobile apps that can support HTML5 slots, table games, and live games.

The apps must be powerful enough to support stable gaming and will have re-vamped interfaces that allow for easier navigation and account controls. When it comes to payments, gambling sites will implement secure cashier technology to process fast deposits and withdrawals between player accounts and their online wallet.

The accepted methods tend to include only those from reputable providers, including eWallets such as PayPal, prepaid cards, mobile payments, and credit cards. As we’ve explained in the following section, the casino technology implemented to ensure secure payments and user connections to the platform is fundamental to a safe experience.

Safety and Security

There is nothing more important than choosing a safe and secure online casino. The only way to guarantee this is to gamble with a site that has been licensed by an official state regulator, such as New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. Regulators have strict mandates about the technology casinos must implement to keep players safe. We’ve discussed these technologies here.

Encryption

In order to be licensed, online casinos must implement SSL encryption. Secure Sockets Layer or SSL encryption guarantees that the data sent between players and the platform is encrypted, making it impossible to intercept by hackers and scammers. This is especially important for payments and the submission of identity documents.

Without encryption, your data would pass through internet servers vulnerable to be read by anyone who can access the servers. Major SSL providers that service US casinos include Cloudflare and DigiCert, and you can check the exact certification by clicking on the padlock icon in your URL bar.

Identity Verification

Before users can complete their account registration, they must pass Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification processes. There are plenty of reasons for this which relate to player safety and site integrity reasons. For one, they prevent underage users from joining and gambling illegally. It also prevents users from creating multiple accounts and claiming more bonuses.

This casino tech is an integral step to combat money laundering, as it stops fraudulent or outlawed users and enterprises from joining. It’s also helpful for issues surrounding player and site taxation, and importantly, prevents self-excluded players from registering. For users, it’s simply a matter of uploading your official ID and waiting for the technology to confirm its legitimacy.

Responsible Gambling

One of the most important regulations around online gambling is that surrounding responsible gambling. Before operators can earn a license, they must consult with responsible gambling organizations to ensure that they are following non-predatory practices. They must also implement special casino technology to reduce the risk of problem gambling.

This can include using casino tech that detects when players are displaying signs of irresponsible spending or too much time spent gambling. This can then lead players to find support. Other tools include the implementation of self-timers, deposit and loss limits, and self-exclusion. Once a player is self-excluded, they are placed on a central registry that will block access to all gambling sites.

Online casinos will then cease to send promotions to self-excluded players. Each jurisdiction has their own laws around responsible gambling, though all take the matter extremely seriously. There are links featured at all casinos to problem gambling services such as Gamblers Anonymous and the National Council on Problem Gambling,

The Games

Our team of experts are regularly asked how players can tell whether a game is fair and trustworthy. As we’ve mentioned, the only way to do this is to gamble at a licensed casino. This is because they ensure that titles are using tech for casinos that ensure games payout at a reliable rate and have been proven to do so.

Random Number Generators

Random Number Generator (RNG) technology is used to ensure that every spin on an online slot or outcome in a virtual table game is random. Essentially, this generator sees that every spin produces a random number sequence that cannot be rigged. This sequence is then displayed as corresponding symbols on the reels.

Developers can influence the generator to payout at at different rates (RTPs). While table games will have consistent RTPs, slot payout rates will vary from title to title. You will be able to check the RTPs of all games within their settings menus. But how do you know that these RTPs are accurate?

Before games can be put on the market, they undergo independent audits from agencies such as eCOGRA and iTech Labs. These use statistical methods to test and confirm that the RNG systems are random and have not been improperly influenced. This auditing is required by online casino regulators in the USA.

Live Dealer Studios

The reason that live dealer games have become so popular is that they use a number of innovative technologies to recreate the land-based casino experience seamless. One of the technologies that is employed is Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. This uses cameras to recognize card symbols, wheel numbers, and dice and display the results accurately on screen.

In addition to this, these studios must use high definition cameras and movie-studio standard special effects to create an immersive space. They also require powerful live streaming technologies to ensure that connections are stable and reliable. Live chat software is also implemented to ensure easy communication between dealers and players.

Sports Betting

There are several technologies used to ensure that sports betting platforms remain viable and competitive. Many now use Artificial Intelligence to generate odds, or other technologies to mine data to deliver live scores, match statistics, and game vizualitions to players when live streaming is not available.

On the topic of live streaming, its common for major sites to now provide in-game viewing of popular major sports, which includes infographics and bet suggestions. While there can be input from real-life bookmakers on these, much of this is done by computers. Platforms are also powerful enough to support huge betting periods, fast payments, and parlay bet calculation.

Future Technologies

As online casinos look to expand across the USA, there is technology for casinos behind developer that will be used to redefine the future of the industry. The first of these is Articifial Intelligence. This can be used to provide better odds and pick suggestions for sports bettors, or to offer personalized gaming options for casino fans.

It’s possible too that more games will support Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. This could see users place a visor on your head and immersed in a real-life casino, or use their mobile to project blackjack hands on to their desktops. We also expect that crypto payments will be introduced to US casinos in the near future.