Online Gambling and casinos are on the rise these days. With their flashy homepages and appetizing offers to win big and starting you off with free credit. There is usually a catch, of course there is. Nobody wins every time otherwise the online casinos would be out of business. But they do have a certain appeal and if done in moderation, maybe you could win a few bucks.
We have always been told that gambling is generally a bad thing, it can be seen as a sign of avarice or “greed” but every day is a gamble on whether we “make it” through the day is it not? Every day we have to make decisions that could have a positive or negative outcome but those are the risks we take and it is not that much different with videogames.
Ever since the beginning, Gambling has always seemed to have some kind of influence on videogames. Sometimes it is subtle, like the small or large risks we take during difficult parts of a level where if successful we get to complete the course or if we fail, we have to start from the beginning again, losing lives, points or our top score. Other times it features full on casino games like Black Jack, Poker and slot machines. In these “Minigames” you normally have to use your in-game currency in the hopes to increase your funds, usually to be able to buy better equipment or customization options like clothing.
Gambling minigames have appeared in the likes of The World Is Not Enough on the Nintendo 64 which featured Black Jack and Pirates Of The Carribean: At World’s End had Texas Hold’em and even it’s own Pirate’s Dice minigame. Fully fledged casinos have even been created in the likes of GTA: San Andreas and even had their own themed worlds like in Yooka Laylee.
However, there are many other games to be found in online casinos. If you prefer slots, then you can choose from Book of Ra, Sizzling Hot and many other amazing games. Casino games aren’t usually on a certain theme such as videogames themed games. They remain classic and many people prefer them over the games on a certain theme. Also, if you are interested in these casino games, you would want to know there are also other online casino games that are just as amazing as slots are. These particular games are card games and you surely know how to play them: Poker, Blackjack and Baccarat. There are LIVE versions in online casinos as well, so it’s up to you what you choose to play. But that’s not the actual point here, so let’s just stick to the minigames we’ve talked about before.
Loot boxes in games that seem to be very popular in EA games is also gambling and is very lucrative, giving players the chance to earn better equipment or weapons or maybe even better football players hidden in those “Premium Packs” via Micro-transactions. Most Free to play mobile games these days feature micro-transactions which is used to help pay the development costs and put money back into the devs pockets and usually consist of offering players another chance to finish the level they were so close to beating or giving them the option to skip it altogether though the former doesn’t necessarily mean they will definitely finish the level so it is yet another form of Gambling.
Nintendo themselves have also dabbled with gambling and casino minigames many a time. In Super Mario Bros 2 there was a Slot machine game after every level with the chance of getting extra lives. This mechanic even made its way into Super Mario Odyssey where you have to line up the slots in order to get a power moon in the Tostarena Slots minigame. The Legend Of Zelda series is no angel either has encouraged gambling for years. The treasure chest mini game where you have to guess the correct chest to find the rupee and ultimately the Heart Piece, and what about the Minesweeper-like minigame in Skyward sword, with the chance to win lots of rupees at the risk of being blown up?
on the subject of footballers, quite a few of them have even endorsed a number of online casinos and gambling sites, Poker Stars for example along with many others so with it becoming more mainstream, is it time that we dropped the stigma around online gambling perhaps open ourselves up to it a bit more? After all. Every videogame we pick up there is ultimately a gamble whether we will like it or not and then when playing it we are most likely exposed to elements of gambling.
Yet with that in mind, does that make all gamers gamblers? Especially those that spend hundreds if not even thousands in worst case scenarios to get that all exclusive weapon, Footballer or Outfit (There have been cases) because of loot crates. For everyone else that only pay micro-transactions in moderation, are they just as susceptible to online casinos and gambling? I am neither for or against Online gambling and believe that people should make their own choices whether they wish to partake in it or not. You may even want to take it up just for the fun or just to see what it’s like. If you do, there are a number of sites out there but be careful as some of them are not very reputable, so be sure to steer clear of shady pop-ups and only use those from verified sources.
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I find this article very useful and interesting. Thank you.