Online Casino's Cambrian Explosion

The Liberty Bell, the world's first slot machine, was created 130 years ago. A three-reel slot machine, it featured symbols still popular today; diamond, heart, spade, horseshoe, star and bell, and established the user experience -- pull a lever, spin the reels, match symbols to win money -- that has since come to define the $100Bn+/year casino industry.

Quite a legacy. That same mechanic, that same look & feel, is still dominant in the world of casino today, surviving several paradigm shifts, from the evolution to video slot machines, to the emergence of online casino, and most recently the rise of mobile.

Indeed few forms of entertainment so closely resemble their prototype form or their earlier incarnations from the 19th century. The cinematic spectacle of Dune 2 would induce aneurysms in the audiences of early silent pictures. The rich fidelity of Read Dead Redemption is a million miles from the crude vector graphics of Spacewar! or Pong, only 60 years ago. And my daughter tells me that Nicki Minaj's music sounds nothing at all like Louis Armstrong.

It speaks to the purity of the original design that it has endured so long. But it also nods to a safety-first approach to innovation held by the industry. With games brutally judged on early player metrics -- promptly removed from the floor or lobby if they're not doing numbers -- there has never been incentive to stray too far away from the familiar. And so we've found ourselves innovating by increment. Four reels! No, five! The Gillette School of Innovation.

And when a new mechanic or theme is hit upon, it gets licensed, imitated, squeezed, and ultimately flogged to death. This is the thinking that leads to the industry believing that what we all really want is a new Big Fishin' Christmas Catch Megaways! game.

Encouragingly though, we now seem to be on the cusp of real innovation, in terms of themes, mechanics and formats. SPRIBE 's Aviator game was a much-needed shot in the arm, spawning an entire genre of crash games. The concept has been further iterated on by Evolution , who just this week have released their crash-inspired Stock Market Live game. Further afield, Rivalry.com 's Cash-and-Dash aims to cross-pollenate videogame sensibilities with casino RNG. Even bet365 are in on the act, releasing a host of accessible arcade-style games with ne'er a reel nor lucky 7 in sight.

What's fascinating is that this Cambrian explosion of innovation is happening across the casino ecosystem, spurred on by seemingly every stakeholder; from challenger crypto casino brands to licensed global behemoths; from US market leaders to African local champions; from start-up studios to enormous B2B conglomerates. It's as if, suddenly, collectively, we've awoken from our 130 year nap, sharpened our pencils, and started to think creatively.

Driving this change is the compounding impact of multiple trends. As new markets open, new money and new players are now in play, their tastes and expectations not dulled by past glories. In more mature markets such as the UK, a pronounced shift towards recreational players and an entertainment-led proposition demands games that can appeal to a broader audience. Low barriers to entry, at least on the production side, has given rise to over 10,000 game studios, and with it an increased need to stand out from the crowd. And the rise of mobile gaming, social casino, crypto and web3 gaming has perhaps nudged the industry into taking bigger swings.

Of course, I've no doubt that somewhere right now casino analysts are looking at their spreadsheets and tut-tutting at staking behaviour, play speeds and so on for this new breed of games, asking why we're giving up precious lobby space which could instead feature a jolly fisherman and classic 5-reel gameplay. But to do so misses the opportunity these games represent. While these games may not do the numbers today, this type of innovation will be absolutely necessary to keep pace with alternative entertainment options, to engage the new generation of players, and ultimately to ensure that the industry can prosper for the next 130 years.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.