If you've been paying any degree of attention to the online world over the last decade then it's likely you've come across the enormous industry which the online casino world has grown to become. Far from the limitations of the early days, these now offer a range of games which far exceeds anything which could be conceivably be offered by a strictly in-person traditional casino, going beyond the basics of blackjack and roulette to include thousands of themed slots and exotic table game such as pai gow. Mostly this comes down the flexibility of software versus the hard limitations of land-based casino hardware machines, though there are other major developments which point to a wide possibility of futures. The one we are really interested here is that of mobile virtual reality.

Why Mobile VR?

While regular VR is usually slightly more detailed, as it can rely on heftier systems and the increased processing power of their connected computers, this creates obvious limitations when it comes to portability. Free from these constraints, mobile-only VR can be played almost anywhere, and can still offer experiences very close, in some scenarios, to those of the more powerful grounded units.

Part of this comes down to the style of games which mobile VR engages in. Whereas a desktop powered game might be a dynamic adventure, the relatively limited processing power of mobile VR makes it better suited to single environments. While this will change over time, as mobile phones continually gain processing power and battery efficiency, at the moment it ties together perfectly with what could be offered from online casinos.

Baby Steps

The general trajectory of online players starts off slow. The new user will often start out checking out guides for rookie casino players, and slowly build their experience from there. At this point, they can either stick with the standard online system, or those with a greater interest in the interpersonal aspect can try live casino games, where a dealer is an actual person seen over video there to deal the cards and spin the roulette wheel in games like roulette, blackjack and more.

It is this, we expect, which will act as the eventual launching point for real VR casino development. Film the host with VR cameras in real time and stream that out to a virtualized environment in which the player avatars sit. This could effectively combine some of the strongest aspects of online casinos, the convenience, and traditional casinos, the social aspects, into a new experience.

Soon-ish?

While we have seen no major announcements in this area, we would not be surprised to see these types of casino games become a reality soon. Aided by recent improvements to the building infrastructure, as with Google's ARCore framework, the barriers to entry are lower than ever, and this has us very excited for the future.