One thing has remained true about gambling throughout its thousands of years of history: Those who make money from offering gambling will always evolve their product. In some cases, that is to meet changing expectations of customers or to improve the product; in other cases, to tilt the odds in favor of the house. For example, in ancient times, dice eventually had numbered sides and a cube shape. In the modern era, the payout for a blackjack hand has largely changed from 3-to-2 to 6-to-5.
In recent years, online products have been introduced for a different reason – product innovation has been focused in part on proving the products aren’t actually gambling. The most prominent example from the recent past was the advent of daily fantasy sports in the early part of the century. Currently, we are seeing a series of these types of products including newer forms of daily fantasy sports, sweepstakes games, and prediction markets/ exchange betting. Let’s explore the impacts on the industry from these newer products.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY RICK ARPIN IN THE FALL 2025 EDITION OF GAMING & LEISURE MAGAZINE.