What’s the Number of Players in Multiplayer PC Games Compared to Online Casinos?

Multiplayer games such as Rocket League and Rainbow Six Siege give players a chance to compete against other players online. Rather than playing solo campaigns at their own pace, players tend to lean more towards community-based games where they get to test their skills against other die-hard gamers. 

Equally popular is the world of online gambling at casinos with players tackling real money gambling on slots and table games. With its popularity has come the need for professional review platforms. For example, Legalcasino evaluates legal UK online casinos to ensure player safety.

A similar trend has occurred in PC gaming, where review and analytics sites emerged even earlier to address questions about safety gaming and player numbers as well.

This brings us to the question: which attracts more players — multiplayer PC games or online casino gaming?

Choices and Restrictions

It’s important to understand that a complete separation of online gaming and casino play isn’t necessarily a thing. There’s no reason why someone who enjoys battling things out in Fortnite, for example, can’t also enjoy spinning the reels on a jackpot slot machine.

A big feature of multiplayer gaming is that it’s very rarely restricted by platform. The cross-platform gaming setup means that a player on a PC can easily interact in-game with someone on an Xbox, for example. 

Online gamblers don’t have the same degree of interaction with other players. Live dealer games are available, as different players can sit at a roulette game, but other than text chat in some rooms, interaction is very limited to discourage distractions.

The big difference between the two areas, of course, is age restrictions. Online gambling is strictly regulated with a minimum age of 18 in the UK, but in the USA, casino gambling has a minimum age requirement of 21, so it does depend on where you are playing. 

For online gaming, younger players have a free run at things, even though some games may have more mature ratings, children across the world still play titles like Valorant (16+). 

Breaking the Billion

It’s estimated that there are around 3.3 billion gamers worldwide, up from around 1.1 billion in 2021. From that, it’s estimated that around 2.8 billion of those players do their gaming online. The vast number of online gamers in recent years encapsulates the fact that it crosses all age, gender and geographic boundaries.

Players from many different countries can get together on the same server and battle it out. It’s that appeal of joining others in what essentially is a competitive hobby, that keeps the popularity of online gaming strong.

The online casino scene is vast as well, and figures from 2024 trends indicate that around 4.2 billion people gambled at least once during the year. The United States has around 58 million active players, with the UK and Germany around 29 million.

Overall for active (i.e. regular) online gamblers (casino and sports betting), the figure is around 176 million per year and that’s expected to easily break the 200 million barrier by 2025. 

Out of that 176 million, online casinos account for around 94.1 million of the player base, which is a huge 62% increase since 2019. By next year, the number of active online casino players worldwide will be around 112 million.

Gaming Variety

There are around 5,000 global casinos and online gambling businesses, so there is plenty of choice for players. At any high-quality, reputable online casino, a player will be met with vast gaming choices.

The number of slots in a single casino portfolio can stretch above 1,000, covering all imaginable themes from treasure hunting, to the luck of the Irish and simple gems. But the options extend far beyond, including features like crash games, instant win scratch cards, bingo, poker and traditional table games such as baccarat, roulette and blackjack.

The options for multiplayer PC games are even more extensive, as players can typically select from more than 85,000 online games. That ranges from massive online titles such as Fortnite, Rocket League, League of Legends, Minecraft, Call of Duty and Valorant to less high-profile, but still well-supported titles like Rusty Hearts and Cabal 2. 

Global Reach

Both online gaming and online gambling have a massive global reach. But the former attracts more active players per year. The global reach of gaming is helped by having something appealing for all demographics, and MMORPG titles, for example, tend to skew towards younger players (teens and young adults) than online gambling does.

The typical online gambling demographic is middle-aged, from their late twenties through to their mid-forties. But older adults 45+ still make up a big demographic of the online gambling community, but just engage with different games, leaning more towards slots and bingo.