Since the turn of the century, online casinos have grown in popularity. The invention of smartphones together with advances in mobile technology and fintech has led to an increase in mobile users worldwide. As technology evolves so have the casino games. But one specific type of online slots has been trending for the past few years – fishing themed slots.
To fully understand the slots frenzy, a dedicated online casino guide, FishingSlots.co.uk, has monitored the trend for the last few years. As a result, they have come up with several reasons why these games are so popular around the world.
But before we begin to assess their conclusions, lets first understand what defines these games.
By definition, a fishing slot is basically any slot game, that has a fishing theme with a fish collection feature. In a fish collection feature, a fisherman appears on any of the slot reels and reels in any fish symbols with cash prizes attached to them.
Trend Setters Around the World
One of the very first fishing games to be adapted to online casinos was Reel Time Gaming’s Fishin’ Frenzy slot game. Even though the company resides in Australia, the game became an instant hit at UK betting shops and casinos. Therefore, resulting in the acquisition of Reel Time Gaming by the Gauselmann Group, a major player in the European casino game terminal industry. By acquiring the rights to the Fishin’ Frenzy trademark, Blueprint Gaming, which is part of the group, developed over 15 different games in the Fishin’ Frenzy series to date.
Pragmatic Play, another giant name in the online casino industry, realized the growing trend for fishing games. And so, at the end of 2020, they released Big Bass Bonanza. This game was meant to be a competitor to Blueprint’s growing fishing game portfolio. However, to their surprise, the popularity of the game outdid their main competitor.
And as a result, both game studios have been competing fiercely, pumping out new versions of their game series every couple of months. This in turn has led to many other game studios launching to jump on the band wagon and release their own fishing slots. To emphasize how trendy these games are, one just has to visit an online casino and see which games feature in the “popular games” section. For example, Yeti Casino, a popular destination for UK and South African gamblers, features over 10 different fishing slots in their popular games lobby.
4 Key Factors Boosting Popularity
- Fishing is like a national past time. Since the beginning of time, the art of fishing has been passed on by generation to generation. The fishing industry is a multi-billion dollar industry today and it encompasses sport, recreation and food industries. It’s possible that our love for fishing is embedded in us, and therefore we react positively to new fishing related products, whether it be fishing gear, videos and even casino games. The allure of reeling in a big fish, or in this case, a big cash prize, is too big to ignore.
- As we mentioned before, there is a fierce rivalry going on between game studios. By them releasing new fishing themed slot games all the time, they’re keeping the trend going. Some casino game studios, even incentivize casino operators to promote their games more than other studios, by offering lower royalty fees on the games. This too increases more viewability for the games which in turn adds to their popularity among players.
- Another key factor, is that these games are just well designed. So not only is there a trend for these games, but even without a trend they would still be popular. This is due to them being fun games to play. Players today, have become accustomed to slot machines with special effects and cool bonus features at their local land-based casinos. So, online game studios have basically thrown everything into their games, including the kitchen sink. Many fishing slots, come with their usual fisherman collect feature but also a wide range of bonus modifiers and even progressive jackpots. Altogether, they make a good package deal for slot enthusiasts.
- Social media influencers play a big part as well in trend setting. Live casino streamers have flooded Youtube and Twitch over the last few years, gathering many followers. So, when live streamers have massive followings, they are basically viewed upon as trend setters. Because, when their viewers see them playing fishing games and winning big sums of cash, then they believe they can do it too. So, these same viewers will go log in to their own casino accounts and start playing these games too. Thus, adding to the games’ total betting turnover and popularity,
Conclusion
As with most trends, all good things should come to an end. However, for now the fishing-themed slots trend isn’t slowing down. In fact, at this time of writing, there are already 3 Christmas themed fishing slots hitting the market. So, there are likely to be more games added over time, and all that’s left is to ride the wave until it ends. But regardless, it’s fascinating to see how online gamblers react to this genre of casino slots.
Disclaimer:
Gambling can be addictive. If you are over the age of 18, make sure to gamble for entertainment only and gamble responsibly. Never gamble with money that you can’t afford to lose.
If you or your loved ones may have a gambling addiction, then contact any of the following sites for assistance:
* https://www.begambleaware.org/
This article was written in cooperation with FishingSlots