There’s nothing better than getting home from a long, hard day at work and unwinding by playing your favourite video game. But what if you could turn that passion and hobby into money?
No, we’re not talking about buying a webcam and a mic and making your own YouTube videos or streaming on Twitch.
Instead, we’re talking about online casino games. Are the skills needed to dominate at Warzone transferrable to poker? Could you utilise your Apex Legends nous to clean up on a slot machine?
Read on as we take a look at some of the transferrable skills that could help to turn your spare time in to profit.
Video Games & Online Casinos: What are the similarities?
If you’ve never signed up to an Online Casino before, you may rightly be wondering what similarities, if any, there are between dropping in to Verdansk and playing poker.
Despite the gameplay and goals being wildly different, there are a lot of similarities in the skills needed to succeed at both. Not sold yet? Take a look below at some of the gaming skills that can help you flourish when playing with an Online Casino.
Strategy
At time of writing, StoneMountain64 has 1,022 Top 5 finishes in Warzone and 535 wins which puts his win percentage at 17.4% which is a truly staggering number.
His 2.1 K/D however, paints a different picture altogether. Whilst it is still 1.4 higher than the author of this piece’s K/D and probably higher than most of yours as well, it’s not exactly an amazing K/D for a streamer.
Swagg for example has a 4.54, whilst NickMercs has a 4.4, with even TimTheTatman having a higher K/D.
What separates StoneMountain64 from his streaming colleagues is his 100% commitment to strategy and tactics.
He rarely drops into a game looking to complete a kill-race, instead he stacks recons, buys self-revives for him and his squad and tries to grab the most strategically important place on the map.
That’s because whilst he knows that there may well be a lot of people in his lobbies with a higher K/D and better gun skill, all of that counts for nothing when he has the high ground and a better angle on his opponent.
This penchant for strategy would certainly transfer into Online Casino games and would most likely mean that StoneMountain64 would be a gifted poker player.
The classic card game is all about strategy and much like a Battle Royale, tends to reward the players with the best strategy, rather than natural ability.
If you and your buddies routinely scan the Tac Map before dropping into Verdansk to plan out your game then chances are, you’ll be more than capable of competing in a strategic game such as online poker.
Reactions
There’s a reason that your parents aren’t as good at video games as you and that’s because, as you get older, the time it takes you to react to things increases.
Video games are a constant test of your reaction times, whether you play first-person shooters, sports games or role-playing games.
Whilst there is an obvious difference between the .400ms TTK in a first-person shooter and your average online casino game, reaction times are still important – especially when it comes to slot machines.
It doesn’t take a great deal of skill to play a slot game, but to win money you have to concentrate and react to certain events, bonuses and offers that the game throws your way.
In a study in the UK, long-term slot machine players were quizzed as to what skills they thought would improve their profit to loss ratios and increased reaction times was amongst the top 3 answers.
Problem Solving
It’s not a particularly glamorous way to say it, but the majority of video games are essentially exercises in problem solving.
Take Assassin’s Creed for example, a stunning visual game with a huge map and a seemingly never-ending set of tasks and missions to complete.
Whilst there is obviously an element of skill when it comes to sword fights, the biggest skill that players need to demonstrate is problem solving.
How they will gain entry to a house, how they will pull off an assassination without getting spotted by the guards, or how they will pass through an area undetected.
All of these things test your problem solving ability, which is a skill that is also tested when you play with an Online Casino.
In poker you must constantly work out your hand, whilst comparing it to your opponent’s, all while you try to come up with the best solution to maximise your bet.
In blackjack as well, you must constantly be working out the quick-fire mathematical problems that the dealer throws your way, we could go on, but suffice to say, Online Casino games really test your problem solving skills, much in the same way that video games do.
Insider Knowledge
Now that we have discussed 3 of the main transferable skills that you can take from video gaming to your Online Casino odyssey, let’s move on to our final point, which could turn out to be the most profitable one of all.
Online Casino’s in North America and Europe, encouraged by the amount of viewers streamers like NickMercs pull in are moving into Esports as a new iGaming market.
Hundreds of sites are carrying odds on Call of Duty kill races, League of Legends clashes and many more Esports events. Whilst the odds are certainly a result of research on the part of the companies providing them, they are not quite as watertight as standard sporting odds.
That’s because there’s a lot less knowledge out there about streamers and their strengths and weaknesses in comparison to say, the knowledge that bookmakers have about Manchester United’s European ambitions.
If you’re a dedicated gamer, you probably spend a lot of time watching streamers playing your favourite game as well as playing yourself. This means, in most cases that you’ll have a far greater knowledge of the Esports market than the people producing the odds.
After you’ve tested out the 3 transferable skills detailed in this article, maybe take a look at some Esports odds and see what value there is out there.