London is without a doubt one of the most incredible cities on Earth for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact there’s always something to do. Pubs, clubs, theatres, casinos, cafes, arcades: you name it, they’ve probably got something going on at it.
Over the last few months, though, it seems that many of these activities and experiences have become significantly more immersive and engaging. For example, there’s an entire page on Design My Night dedicated specifically to immersive experiences in London. Events include a virtual reality gaming pop-up, a pirate-themed cocktail night, a murder-mystery luxury train ride and a dystopian escape room just to name a few. All of these activities take things to the next level by engaging with those in attendance; whoever attends is able to get involved and really get into the action.
With such an interesting trend such as this taking hold of the entertainment sector throughout the capital, it’s no surprise that London’s casinos are also beginning to advertise immersive experiences. Here, we’ll be looking into exactly what London’s casinos have to offer, how they came to be and where this trend could lead us in the future.
London Casino Experiences
As of September 2018, there were a total of 152 casinos in Great Britain, 28 of which are located in the capital. Of these London casinos, the majority have recently started offering a number of immersive experiences, with the aim being to get more people engaged with casino games, whether it be table games like poker or slots. When it comes to immersive experiences, we can’t think of a better industry for the task than casinos as it has always relied on people interacting and learning from each other. This, it seems, is the fundamental building block that London casinos are now using for their new immersive experience packages and events.
For example, Empire Casino recently started offering a number of deals that revolve around classes. Their ‘Learn To Play’ package is particularly popular already, as players can learn the basics of blackjack and roulette over a 40-minute session all for as little as £20 per person. They also run exclusive 2-hour poker tournaments where you can learn how to play poker like a pro, again starting at just £20pp.
Fellow London casino Asper’s has also started advertising a similar table game tuition class for just £30pp, which includes a three-course meal, a glass of champagne and a lesson on either blackjack or roulette. Meanwhile, Victoria Casino has gone a step further by creating team building classes based on learning how to play all sorts of table games under the tutelage of experts.
From Online Sites To London Casinos
Though it’s clear that engaging group experiences have become incredibly popular in establishments throughout London, there’s a point to be made about why the casinos, in particular, are excelling in the immersive activity market.
You see, despite how successful brick-and-mortar casinos and their packages may be, nothing can compete with how popular their online counterparts have become. Ever since casinos first started appearing on the internet back in the late 1990s, they’ve garnered a lot of attention and it’s now estimated that the global online casino market may be worth almost $60 billion by the end of next year.
There are a number of factors that have contributed towards the iGaming industry’s success, including accessibility, competitive deals and minimal learning curves. However, we’d argue that the variety of games is perhaps the largest factor of all, as most sites tend to offer everything from sportsbooks to slots and poker to bingo. Something that many sites started offering a few years ago though, was live games – video-streamed, immersive events that players could access any time in order to play with a live, trained professional.
These were a real game changer as they offered players something regular online casino games couldn’t, the one thing that traditional casinos had in spades: live experiences. Now, it’s not unusual to visit a site and be instantly met with a plethora of live games.Wink Slots, for example, has no less than twenty live casino games to offer alongside their online slots, including roulette, blackjack and Casino Hold’em. With these games just a few clicks away, it’s no surprise that they soon became successful on plenty of sites.
Clearly, players were hankering for true, live games and experiences and brick-and-mortar casinos in London are finally catching on.
The Future Of Immersive Experiences
Now that we’re all caught up on how the immersive experiences at London casinos came to be and where you can find them, we think its time to think about what these events may become in the future. With the ever-evolving technology and gaming markets, it’s sure to be quite interesting.
For starters, there’s a good chance virtual reality will make its way into the casino industry. Using VR, casinos both online and off will be able to take that immersive experience to a whole other level. Just imagine being taught how to play poker, blackjack or roulette through VR – it’d be like playing a game within a game! Similarly, augmented reality could possibly enter the fray, adding a virtual layer to casino experiences. We imagine that this would be particularly interesting to the celebrities of the world, so we hope to see some of Las Vegas’s showstoppers in our London casinos, please!
As for how immersive experiences will evolve outside of technology, there are rumours that casino games could become regular fixtures in eSports in the near future. As far as group gaming experiences go, few are bigger than eSport tournaments, so the idea of poker or slots becoming the centre of an eSports league is very exciting. Already, many Las Vegas resorts are invested in the sport, we just need someone to get the actual casino games to the forefront.
Whether this dream will become a reality any time soon, we can’t say for sure. What we do know is that if London casinos started hosting eSports tournaments any time soon, we’d certainly be showing up.
Images courtesy of mattbuck4950 and Robin Hood Tax, with thanks
