There is no doubt that the collaborative economy and consumption have led to changes in the consumption patterns of a large number of people. Collaborative consumption is a model or habit of recent consumption in which new technologies are particularly relevant. Today, it’s difficult to find some fields that do not have a platform that facilitates or promotes contact between people interested in offering or receiving some type of good or service: housing, entertainment (games included), transportation, crowdfunding, time banks, tourism, consumer cooperatives, etc.
Online gaming is a phenomenon that began around the early 2000s along with the booming of Internet. At first, the number of games that could be played online was limited but over time, they multiplied and now they are replacing the dominance of console-based games. PlayStation, Xbox, GameCube, Atari 2600 and the most popular Nintendo may meet the end of their era in the next few years. Even, some traditional casino games in UK, a country with a long history of traditional casinos, are now dominated or replaced by tons of online casinos like Genesis Casino.
Why the gambling tax in UK was increased
As we have seen, gambling has taken a very long time in British society. Gambling is legal in this country and even governed by the Gambling Commission, shaded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The Gambling Commission’s involvement was organized under the Gambling Act 2005. Back in the post-World War II era, the game of Housie was popularized by British soldiers, sparking the growth of local casinos in many areas of UK.
The increasing numbers of casinos, including those that are run online, cause the Gambling Commission to apply new tax-related rules. Since 2001, taxes amounted to 15% of gross profit. Rough estimates suggest that at least the UK gambling industry (conventional and online) accounts for approximately 0.5% of GDP every single year. Not only that, the UK gambling industry, today, also employs no less than 100,000 people, making sure it is one of the most important sources of livelihood in the country. This tax spike is influenced by the emergence of many online casinos that can’t be separated from the development of online gaming technology.
Some changes occurred
Along with the rapid growth of online games, some changes occurred, especially on how people spend their money to seek entertainment through playing games. These changes have been foreseen for several years previously when economists and technologists analyzed the impact of human convenience on accessing information in the future. Today, we do not need to buy a game console if we want to play the latest games. What we need is an Internet network and a computer device. We do not even need to buy a PC to play. Simply use a smartphone then we can play almost anything.
The rapid development of online games ultimately spurred creativity everywhere. The emergence of new online games increasingly spurred many programmers to create the latest games as well as improvise on the closure of security gaps. Not only that, the transition from console-based games to online games also increases the need for Internet quota which in itself increases the growth of Internet signal transmitter towers and everything related to the infrastructure of Internet services.
More connection more employment
The development of the global Internet infrastructure will in turn create more employment as this is followed by an increase in the quantity and quality of related services. Thus it can be concluded that the boom of online games trigger economic growth in some sectors which will ultimately boost the economy globally.
Every online game requires a lot of resources. They need programmer, designer, marketer, tester and so on. Game designers are people with special abilities to translate ideas into game programming codes. They are paid professionally by game companies and today, game designers are one of the most prestigious professions in the world.
Supported by the social media
The popularity of online games is also supported by various social media applications, especially by YouTube. We know that many YouTube users are making use of this streaming video app to “market” their skills in playing online games. Some of them are even able to reap substantial monthly income only from sharing tips and tricks in playing certain games. In the past the game players only spent their money and now they can make enough money just from playing the games. It can be concluded that the popularity of online games helped push the economic improvement in almost all areas, especially what we have seen in UK.
