These days entertainment comes in more forms than ever before. E-sports, streaming services, online-only channels and social media outlets like TikTok all fall under the general umbrella. But there’s also another sector that is hoping to also firmly position itself against all the other entertainment channels, online casinos.
In recent years these have seen huge growth and now there are a great number operating around the world, with millions of players enjoying them every day. As they have been gradually introduced into the culture, there is no doubt that one of their operators’ key objectives has been to pitch playing on them as an alternative to other kinds of leisure, like going to a movie. At first, this might seem like a bit of a stretch. But when you start to dissect it a little, there are several similarities between the big studios and online casinos.
“Scarlett Johansson” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Gage Skidmore
The first is that they revolve around stars. In the case of the movies, these are the actors who have the biggest box-office pull – the Cruises, the Johannsson’s, the Mulligans. In the case of online casinos it’s the games from the big developers. Developers that, according to Andreas Holmsten at CasinoWings, can be relied upon to come up with the most appealing games time and time again. Names include IGT, Microgaming, Nextgen and Playtech. And, for players in the know, the fact that a slots game or even a version of roulette or blackjack has been developed by one of these big names is a hallmark of quality.
Next is the reliance on the winning formula. When the highly respected and admired screenwriter William Goldman was famously quoted as saying that in Hollywood “nobody knows anything”, he wasn’t commenting on the ignorance of studio execs. He was just stating that no one knows where a hit’s going to come from. This lack of certainty means that, when a film is successful, the immediate reaction is to plan a sequel.
Well, guess what? When an online casino game proves to be a big hit with players it’s never very long before both sequels to the game and copycat versions from other developers start to appear on the scene, hoping to ride on the back of the success and popularity of the original game. And, just like the movies, sometimes this is a successful strategy. Other times, not so much.
This brings us on to the next point of similarity. Both the movies on the online casino industry are numbers-driven and both rely on getting the box office returns or the number of players participating to turn a profit. So the accountants are just as important as the creative people involved.
Finally, both industries are pragmatic enough to know when it’s best to co-operate. For the studios, we have agreements like the one made between Sony and Disney and recent years have seen a number of mega-mergers between some of the biggest names in the gaming world.
So all we need now is for the latter to start throwing lavish annual awards ceremonies like the Oscars and the similarities will be complete.
