Designing an Online Casino

Online casinos are currently the driving force behind the phenomenal growth of the gambling industry, but what design considerations make or break a good online casino site?

Gambling was enjoyed by mankind long before written history began. Since it’s birth as a pastime it has evolved and grown alongside humanity to suit our needs and wants to become the thriving industry it is today.

It is no surprise then that the bricks and mortar casinos of previous decades have begun to give way to their cyber alternatives. As our lives have moved online, so has gambling, opening it up to a wider and ever more competitive audience.

At the tips of our fingers, we have access to hundreds upon hundreds of high-quality online casinos as well as some less impressive ones. Below we will explore what aspects of design go into making a successful online casino, here are the key areas we will cover:

  1. The human touch
  2. The perfect look
  3. The nuts and bolts
  4. The essentials
  5. Simple solutions
  6. The human touch

The human element of going to land based casino is one of the reasons they are so popular. This is one of the hardest things for online providers to recreate.

No matter how well an online casino is designed, it will never be able to fully replicate the human experience of a land-based casino. Online casinos must therefore look for digital ways in which they can build meaningful, personal relationships with their customers.

Customer support of course plays into this, but there are a few other ways online casinos can connect with their audience through customer engagement. This can be via their social media channels and their onsite content. A good way to build a relationship is to be a resource for your customers by having useful and insightful blog posts on your site for them to read and expand their gambling knowledge with. In this respect, 888 Casino really set the pace within the industry, their site features blog posts written by world famous gambling experts, ensuring you have all of the resources you need to win when you play at their impressive online casino.

  1. The perfect look

More effort needs to go into designing a welcoming, familiar and visually appealing online casino than you would think.

We’ve already covered the fact that online casinos cannot simply replicate the experience and feel of a land-based casino, but they can try to get as close as possible to it. UI design is so important for an online casino as it helps to foster an intuitive experience that puts the customer at ease.

Buttons, icons, typography and colour schemes should be optimised to not only convey the message of the brand but to also evoke the glamour of classic gambling. UI is therefore just as important as UX when it comes to online casinos as players may believe that they are experiencing a stripped-down version of gambling.

It’s no wonder that online casinos that use UI design to mimic the real-life casino experience tend to do better than those who do not.

  1. The nuts and bolts

Appearances may be key when it comes to attracting the interest of potential customers, but they will count for nothing if they are not backed up by any real substance. The substance of an online casino is its actual gaming software, it is after all, the reason that players visit a site in the first place.

Fortunately for online casino developers its incredibly difficult to mess up when it comes to gaming software. Almost every online casino game that you see will have been made by a small group of gaming companies design their own gaming software and lease it to online casinos.

Despite the guaranteed quality of these leasing companies there are some online casinos that choose to go it alone and develop their own. Casinos that can develop their own games successfully are at a distinct advantage over others, as they can provide unique games, attracting a specific loyal audience to their site.

  1. The essentials

Gambling may be glamorous and exciting, but it also needs to be functional and safe, especially when it’s online. Customers take for granted the fact that their money is safe and secure whilst they play, but it does require some effort on the part of online casino designers.

The best online casinos are currently utilising the latest 256/128 bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to protect their customers finances and their details. You might not think that this is particularly ground-breaking, but it can often be neglected by unscrupulous online casinos.

  1. Simple solutions

Creating a site that’s user friendly is key for web designers for online casinos. If a player finds a site hard to use, they will instantly go to a competitor, so a great UX design is a crucial element.

It’s one thing to have a sleek and stylish website design, but when it comes to customer queries and concerns, simplicity is key. UI needs to give way to UX when a player has a problem. A site that’s simple to navigate and easy to understand is essential when there’s so much competition in the online casino market.

Gone are the colourful buttons, layouts and text when it comes to the about us, FAQs and customer information pages, the interactive elements of the site are all replaced by simple, easy to navigate text and tools. On top of that a good online casino has to offer customers the chance to switch from resolving their issue via FAQ’s or automated reply to actual human contact easily, whether that be through their browser or their phone.

Summary

While all these things used together can create the perfect online casino, there are many rubbish online casinos out there with a poor web design and reputation. While some casinos may offer tempting sign up offers, if the site doesn’t look great and reminds you a bit of a nondescript grocery shopping site you regularly use, then usually it means that it’s a sight to be avoided.

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