The video game industry is bigger than it has ever been. What is more impressive is that, in comparison to the film or music industry for example, video games are pretty recent. It wasn’t so long ago that they were viewed as children’s toys. Nowadays, though, video games are being created with a diverse audience in mind, young, old, and anyone in between can enjoy a video game specifically tailored to their taste.
In a similar vein, online casinos have become quite popular. But, what many don’t realize is that iGaming takes just as much inspiration from gambling as it does from video games. We see online slots with heavy gaming themes, specialty games clearly inspired by classic shooters, and an overall aesthetic similar to popular games. The relationship between iGaming and gaming is not one-sided, though.
Video Games with Casinos
The gaming industry has almost certainly taken note of the popularity of online gambling. There is no denying that websites like Rocket Riches Casino are getting a lot more popular and attracting an ever-larger pool of customers. In order to compete, quite a few popular video games have integrated online gambling into their model.
Of course, most of these games are online multiplayer titles, as a connection to the internet is necessary to play at an online casino. However, even single-player games have begun integrating “social casinos.” Basically, you can sit down at a table and play a round of cards or spin a roulette wheel as a sort of luck-based mini-game. In this article, we’d like to focus on video games that have integrated casinos into their gameplay.
Grand Theft Auto V: The Diamond Casino
Grand Theft Auto is easily one of the most popular game franchises in the world. The different games follow different protagonists, all of which are, in some way, embroiled in the criminal world. The popularity of Rockstar Games’ franchise made it all but certain that we’d eventually get an online multiplayer version of the game.
GTA V is precisely that. It started out well enough. However, the Diamond Casino expansion is where things really took an upward turn. The expansion promised entrance to the iconic Diamond Casino. What is more, the game developers actually included the option to place wagers and win rewards. In order to skirt regulation, they specifically made it so gamers can wager real money but not win back real money.
The way it all works is simple: gamers wager, and then they can win in-game points. They can then use these points to purchase in-game goods, like different gear, fancier clothes, fancier cars, and of course, all the weapons you can imagine. Despite the careful planning, Rockstar Games did get into some legal trouble. However, the courts ruled that the Diamond Casino expansion can’t accurately be described as online gambling.
Red Dead Redemption
If you thought you’d seen the last of Rockstar Games, you are sorely mistaken. The game studio’s most popular franchise may be GTA, but their most acclaimed franchise is certainly Red Dead Redemption. The two games are set in the Old West and follow different protagonists with different goals. They bear a lot of similarities to the spaghetti western genre, with films like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, serving as obvious inspiration.
When most of us think of the old west, we think of hard men with revolvers by their side, playing cards at a saloon. So, it wouldn’t be a Western game if it did not reflect that. In both of the games, the player can visit the local saloon, get a round or two of drinks, and sit down at a gambling table. There are multiple gambling options, too; poker, blackjack, arm wrestling, and even horseshoe tossing are all options here.
In the sequel, Rockstar Games doubled down on the concept. Not only did they include all of the same games, but they also added a few more, with dominoes being the most obvious one. Like GTA, Red Dead Redemption also has an online version. Though the game does not include an actual online casino, the option to gamble socially is still there.
Fallout: New Vegas
The Fallout series is one of the most popular, creative, and beloved science fiction RPG game franchises in gaming. The series takes place in a nuclear apocalypse that occurred in the 1950s. A mixture of future science fiction and old-timey aesthetics has resulted in one of the most notable games of all time. To many, the series reached its peak in 2010, when Fallout: New Vegas hit the gaming shops.
As you can imagine, the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. The City of Sin has been taken over by different factions, with the Brotherhood of Steel, the Caesars, and the Followers of the Apocalypse being the most iconic ones. The player finds themselves at the epicenter of the conflict and can either join the factions or destroy them and bring freedom to the Waste.
Of course, no game set in Vegas is complete without a casino. And New Vegas has no less than seven gambling locations. The most iconic one is certainly the Atomic Wrangler casino. However, it is far from the only one. If you manage to find your way into one of these establishments, you will be able to play Caravan, a fictitious card game with rules set up by Obsidian Studios, specifically for the New Vegas game.
Closing Off
The gambling and gaming industries are surprisingly intertwined. With specialty games becoming ever more popular at online casinos, we may just see a future where the line between the two industries is even more blurred than it has ever been. A lot of gamers are predicting that we may even see more multiplayer games incorporate online gambling, in the vein of Grand Theft Auto V. Whatever the case may be, we are looking forward to seeing how both the gaming industry and iGaming develop in the future.