Mobile casino games have made the transition to smartwatch. Find out more about the first games and what wearable gaming could lead to in the future.
Smartwatch Gambling: Casino Games on Your Wrist
Smartwatches have certainly come a long way since first being introduced to the world, with some experts saying the first model was the Samsung SPH-WP10 of 1999, and others tracing their origins all the way back to the 1970’s.
As smartwatches have evolved they’ve blended into our daily lives, and now entertainment and leisure apps are becoming as common as social media and other applications. This includes exciting smartwatch casino game developments, and playing pokies and table games on your wrist is now a reality.
The Beginning
The idea of casino games on smartwatches is quite new, and was first floated at the annual World Mobile Congress in 2014. Known to be the platform for major news and developments, the congress certainly lived up to its reputation when this idea was unveiled.
Renowned industry legend Microgaming was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the first platform to roll out a game for smartwatches, in the form of their Thunderstruck pokies game at the Royal Vegas Android AIR casino in June 2015. The Dark Knight Rises came quite shortly after Thunderstruck, and for a while the focus remained on smartwatch pokies. It was also a while before you could play casino games on your smartwatch for real money.
Available Games
It is now possible to play real money pokies and other games at several casinos on your Apple or Android smartwatch. Video Poker was the first type of game to follow pokies onto the smaller watch screens, and today Baccarat, Roulette, Blackjack and Dice games are all burgeoning and developing.
Playtech and other big-name platforms are getting more involved, and it is now also possible for gamblers to engage in Sports Betting, as well as casino games using the devices on their wrists.
Specific App Requirements
Since every Smartwatch operating system is a little different, the apps that work on each type need to be a little different too, especially as Pebble continues to lose ground. There are currently different apps used for Apple WatchOS games and Android games, although Microgaming is once again trying to blaze new trails and develop universal apps that could be used on all devices.
Looking to the Future
Smartwatches are another link in the chain of technological support that we currently enjoy, allowing us to move seamlessly through all our tasks and responsibilities without missing a single beat or dropping a single ball. Smartwatch casinos are simply the latest example of this, and as more games are added our casino time should blend into daily life even more seamlessly.
While smartwatches and apps continue to evolve all the time, the fact remains that the small screens mean the application interfaces need to be clean and uncluttered if they want to stay user-friendly. That means that, even as more games are added and the existing ones are improved upon, you should still enjoy a simplified and intuitive playing experience.