Flexibility, or more accurately, cross-platform compatibility, has become the goal of developers over the last decade. Ever since smartphones became indispensable, the lines between online and mobile have withered away to the point that flowing between the two is not only possible but expected.
Developers Gamble on Cross-Platform Compatibility
The gambling industry provides countless examples of the merging of two mediums that were once considered separate entities with their own unique traits. One casino-style game that embodies the desktop-to-mobile symbiosis is bingo. Today’s bingo sites are not only vastly different from their predecessors but equally entertaining on any device.
Let’s add some context to the discussion by looking at Paddy Power. Although it’s primarily a sportsbook, customers can play online bingo at Paddy Power. In terms of games, features, and promotions, there are plenty of options. Customers have access to classic 90-ball games, progressive jackpots, and themed bingo rooms such as Deal or No Deal.
The platform also contains casino games, ways for players to earn rewards, and community features such as the Winner’s Wall of Fame. While these features are great, they don’t necessarily add to our cross-platform compatibility discussion. For this, we need to consider how these elements are presented. For example, there’s a carousel at the top of the page. You can scroll through this by tapping the arrow buttons. However, when you switch over to a mobile browser, you swipe. It’s the same page element, but the way it functions is slightly different.
It’s the same for the layout of the game lobby. On desktop devices, games are spread across the page horizontally. However, because there’s plenty of blank space between the game boxes, they’re malleable. That means they can resize and move in unison with the browsing window. This allows them to move into a vertical formation on mobile devices. Again, what you’ve got here is a feature that’s been designed with two mediums in mind.
Minimalist Mindset Makes Games Suitable for All Devices
The games themselves are also suitable for any device because of the way they’re designed. Unnecessary elements have been removed to create a streamlined playing area. With fewer page elements to resize and move, games such as Paddy’s Pad bingo are as easy to play on a smartphone as a desktop device or tablet. Indeed, the challenge developers often have when they’re making something for multiple devices is legibility.
Put simply, they need to consider how page elements will look on a smaller screen. For example, a bingo room could have a fantastically ornate background that looks great on a PC monitor. However, when you scale it down to fit on an iPhone screen, the background becomes a distraction. That’s why developers in the gambling sector have embraced a minimalist mentality. The fewer page elements there are, the more space there is for them to shine.
In other words, if gaming lobbies and games aren’t filled with the unnecessary, the necessary features stand out more. That’s the key to cross-platform compatibility. That’s important because, as the statistics show, more people are playing games on their mobiles than ever before. In 2020, for example, UK Gambling Commission data showed that mobile phones were the most popular way to access online gambling for young people.
As per the report, 50% of online gamblers aged between 18 and 34 used mobiles as their primary device. This figure has increased in line with an uptick in remote casino, betting, and bingo revenue between 2022 from 2023. As reported by the UK Gambling Commission, revenue for the sector was up 2.8% to £6.5 billion ($8.32 billion). What we’ve got here is a continued interest in online gaming fueled, in part, by platforms that function equally as well on desktop computers as mobile devices. That’s the beauty of cross-platform compatibility and why developers keep this in mind whenever they’re creating new products.