All arms of gaming, video games and casino games play enormously popular and important parts. Now standing as staples of the internet age, players familiar with both might have noticed some aspects from one crossing over into the other. For those unfamiliar, join us as we take a closer look, to see the form this relationship this has taken, and in what direction.

On the most visible level, perhaps the most obvious place to turn would be not the games themselves, but the surrounding infrastructure.

The recently redesigned NetentEnt Casino, for instance, acts as a centre for greater games and game services. By listing the important information, in this case, bonuses and minimum deposits for new online casinos, these sites act as a guide to the industry, educating users on all of the different features available at a number of leading operators.

This is similar to the purpose Armchair Arcade and many others have served for years. We use our industry knowledge and experience to inform users on the best games to play, and can help players make educated purchases.

On a more direct level, we could look at the concept of gamification, and how it has affected online casino websites. Gamification, for those unaware, is the addition of gaming-like elements to websites and services, outside of the games themselves.

We have seen these with Valve’s Steam and other storefronts, which incorporate user levels and rewards that players can ‘unlock’. These are also becoming increasingly common in online casinos, where extra levels can afford users the likes of VIP club membership and entry into special tournaments.

On the other side of the equation are the contributions online casinos have made towards traditional video games. You probably already know where we are going with this; that’s right, the world of loot boxes.

Operating as a form of slot machines, these systems allow users to unlock items randomly as they play in the form of mystery boxes. There is an issue of contention here when it comes to implementation, but this has largely been solved following the backlash of Star Wars Battlefront 2’s “pay-to-win” loot box system.

In simple terms, this comes down to how users tend to be happy with cosmetic-only loot boxes, as these act as a fun bonus for time invested. Players can also usually spend money directly, should they wish, but since the payoff is cosmetic only and thus has no meaningful impact on gameplay, this is rarely an issue.