In the latest entry in our ongoing series on gambling technology, we take a look at the trends for the best new casinos in 2018.

Online casinos offer a convenient way to play your favourite table games with the same access to good odds and great cash prizes as land-based casinos. Steadily growing in popularity over the last decade, with annual growth of around 10%, the market is now awash with hundreds of companies all purporting to offer the same service.

With so much choice out there, how do you select the best online casinos in 2018?

To find out, we take a look at the current trends as well as the predictions for what customers are demanding this year.

Online casino trends

With the rise in accessibility of mobile technology, the online casino’s shift towards a product that is mobile-optimised was inevitable. 2017 witnessed more casino operators producing software that allows their guests to enjoy the same service experience via their smartphone and tablet that they would expect on a PC.

Stability, speed, and security have all been at the heart of this development, and those casinos that can offer all three have seen the biggest increases in new membership.

Unlike their land-based counterparts, online casinos are an international industry, with European sites catering to global visitors from the US, Australia, and Asia. They can only do this by offering great flexibility in their deposit and withdrawal services. 2017 has seen an increase in the variety of ways that customers can manage funds in their online accounts. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are becoming more mainstream and join an ever-increasing stable of methods for completing online transactions.

Breaking from the traditional stereotypes, online casino-goers are no longer predominantly men from a certain age demographic. Better advertising and deeper penetration in new markets have seen a rise in the number of female gamblers within the online casino sector, as well as a wider appeal across the age range.

2018 looks set to continue the push for operators to provide an enhanced online experience, and research into virtual reality continues apace. Online casinos are keen to offer more realistic platforms, and Virtual Reality, or VR, is the next frontier for this innovative industry.

We can also expect the New Year to bring us further advances in live gaming. With streaming technology already bringing live dealers to popular games, the development in this area will only increase this trend. Creative marketers are already looking at ways to capitalise on this technology by rolling it out to additional games and using celebrity hosts to aid marketing.

 How to find the best new online casinos

The best new casinos 2018 are those that are making the most of these existing trends, as well as being able to deliver an exciting, but robust, gaming experience.

Sorting the wheat from the chaff isn’t easy, and there are dozens of new casinos coming to market every week. How do you know whether a new online casino is worth taking a gamble on, and why would you?

The major benefit of a new online casino is undoubtedly the sign-up bonuses. In an effort to grab a slice of the market, new entrants advertise great new offers to attract customers. These vary by operator but can add up to a lot of free money if you bank a healthy deposit with them.

Being new to the market can also mean having a fresh outlook, creative ideas, and a wider range of games. It’s not cheap to launch a new online casino and obtain the relevant licences, and most new operators have good financial backing to ensure that the investment is a success. It is immediately evident where this money has been spent when you first visit a new online casino. Feature-rich games supported by a fast and responsive website (or app) demonstrate a commitment of financial backing that, literally, cannot afford to fail.

By the same token, companies that offer online gambling in 2018 should be well informed of the new buzzword in the world of online marketing: “the user journey.”

A phrase that incorporates every aspect of a user’s experience of an online product or service, new online casino operators understand that it is not just the games that satisfy their customers. From the ease of the sign-up process to the flexibility and reliability of the banking system, everything must be well-designed and easy to use. Customer support must also reflect this culture of the user being king.

Finding a good new online casino doesn’t have to be difficult if you set yourself a shopping list based on the above trends.

Whichever new online casino you decide to try this year, always remember to ensure that it has a casino licence issued by a regulated and recognised gaming authority. Only licensed operators are safe and reliable to use; without one, you cannot trust the site, however tempting its sign-up offers and services may be.