Slot popularity over the last eight years have remained ‘steadily popular’ according to new research published by Catena Media, with an overage of one million slot machines around the world.
The report investigates and highlights the trends in the casino industry, with a primary focus on the land-based market in the years leading up to 2020. It went on to state that, while the number of slot machines in operation have remained relatively steady in recent years, the market still remains ‘completely dominated’ by video slot machines.
The analysis highlighted that Europe has the most video reel slot machine in casinos, as of the fourth quarter of 2018, with 98 per cent. America still has a ‘respectable’ amount of old school mechanical slots which makes up 18 per cent of slots in operation.
The remaining top five includes Asia who are second with 90 per cent, South Africa with 86 per cent of video reel slots, Latin America in fourth with 74 per cent and Australia/New Zealand with 72 per cent.
Joevrem Curmi, Catena Media SEO product specialist, said: “We wanted to take a deep dive into the entire casino industry to look back at how all elements of the sector have grown and changed over the past 20 years, as well as how the landscape might evolve in years to come.
“The results are fascinating and although the world is facing some serious challenges at the moment, the outlook is positive for both land-based and online casinos as we progress towards the middle of the 21st century.”
The report emphasised the increase in online casinos over the last two decades which provides a ‘substantial amount of the total gambling market’. It anticipated that in the next four years, the financial value of online gaming will double from $45.8bn in 2017 to £94.4bn in 2024.
Furthermore, it revealed that there has been ‘fluctuations’ in recent years over how much is won online compared to land-based casinos. It stated that in 2008, the amount won online was ‘relatively small’ at just 6.6 per cent in comparison to what was won in big casinos around the world.
Yet, in recent years, online wins have propelled to 15 per cent of all wins with Catena Media predicting a sustained increase over the next few years.
