Online casinos are highly popular in the US and beyond. In fact, it’s believed that revenues of close to $75 billion are probable for the global online gambling sector by 2023. One of the great advantages of online casinos is that they are smooth and simple to use: they load quickly, offer excellent user experience, and they don’t require any of the pesky needs associated with real world casinos – such as travel or human interaction.
But this sort of seamless operation doesn’t spring up out of nowhere. In fact, it’s often the case that a powerful computer system composed of coders, graphic designers and more is working hard in the background to provide you with the experience you have. So while you’re having fun, there’s actually a complex operation taking place! This article will explore exactly what powers these online casinos and gambling sites have, and how the system really works.
The role of developers
While each online casino brand often appears to have its own unique identity, the true technical business model of many online casinos is actually somewhat different. In reality, many casino games come “off the shelf” and are designed by developers in a centralized location. They are then sold in a “white labelled” manner, which means the individual casino brand can purchase and customize it. Playtech and NetEnt are prime examples of this. Once the individual online casino buys the game, they will quickly be able to brand it with their own skins, characters and stories. But the rubric of a game and its technical architecture – such as the coding – is often the same no matter where you actually play it.
Coding the game
When these developers create the games that the end user will eventually play, there’s a key role for the major programming languages. Code is responsible for the process of the game: it tells the game what to do when you enter a command, a value or a stake, and it also ensures that the elements of the game move and behave in the way you require. This coding also governs the randomness with which the wheels are spun or the slots are turned, and ensures – or, at least, ought to ensure – that there is a reasonable and visible odds system in place and that you are not being defrauded or misled.
The precise coding languages used in games can vary from site to site, but a glance down NJ Online Casino sites with a technical eye will reveal that there are some particularly common ones to look out for. A development environment such as Turbo C++ is a popular choice, while some developers also use Windows SDK – an app development tool from Microsoft which sprung out of historic services such as Platform SDK, and NET Framework SDK. This kind of coding is of course expensive, and paying for this sort of service often requires high investment. As a result of this expense, developers can charge casinos high license fees to use the games.
Graphics and visuals
Modern online casino games rely on a visually appealing interface in order to attract an audience. After all, spending money is an act that requires confidence and trust, and if an online casino website looks shoddy then it’s highly unlikely that a player would want to part with their cash. That’s why online casinos are designed with visual integrity in mind.
Clear graphics which load quickly, which appeal to the user’s sense of trust and which are suitable for the modern world of Ultra 4k and other developments are vital. Often graphics are designed on popular consumer-level software packages such as Photoshop, but may also be created on less well-known tools such as the software package Maya, which is more common among those who are professional designers. For online casino games which involve dealers, meanwhile, high-definition video footage of human actors or even cutting-edge, lifelike representations of such people are often used to create that all-important atmosphere of trust.
Online casinos are rightly very popular, and they provide all kinds of players with a chance to partake in everything from card games to roulette. But as this article has shown, while playing online might seem like a simple experience it’s actually the case that a complicated network of graphics, developers and coding has had to come together in order to provide that experience.
