Those who refuse to adapt to the rapid rise of technology in any industry are taking a risky gamble. However, in the world of gaming, where the interconnectedness of the digital market means gaming companies operate globally year-round, they must ensure they stay up to date with the latest innovations and the market’s potential direction, so they do not fall behind.
Poker, arguably more than any area of gaming, is determined heavily by the innovations of the market and how consumers respond to it, so what sort of changes could IMT-2030 usher in?
Defining IMT-2030
Perhaps the easiest way to phrase IMT-2030 is 6G. That’s what the project is all about, and the aim is to bring this into the wider public and global audience at the advent of the next decade. It can be reductive to look at technology and presume that it drives the majority of change in the casino gaming world. Nobody would deny the impact, but there are other important factors, too.
Understanding The Correlation Between Tech & Online Casinos
The rise of online casino gaming, more broadly, seemed glaringly obvious, especially in hindsight. However, that’s not the reality of it. An online casino in the modern market contains all the bells and whistles, countless slot games and payment systems like crypto, all of which showcase the undeniable impact of technology.
Back in the late 1990s, there was the dot-com boom and widespread computer use, but computers were still considered a luxury. Plenty of people had no access to the internet at all, and if it wasn’t for the accelerated, global effort to bring higher bandwidth and cheaper internet to the masses, online casinos could have easily struggled as a niche market for years.
Not to mention the impact of smartphones becoming broadly available, and multiple major nations facilitating the rise of many iGaming companies – it wasn’t a black-and-white topic. It was a perfect combination which allowed them to flourish; it didn’t happen overnight.
Casinos took the risk, and technology companies created an environment where they could also make significant developments if they worked together and onboarded millions of new people – which is what has happened.
So, with 4G, and 5G becoming ubiquitous, but slow to rollout, could mixed-reality poker be the next big potential chapter that fuses poker, technology, and an unquenchable thirst for gaming creativity?
Mixed-Reality Poker – Will It Have Legs?
We’ve seen online poker become firmly established within the current iGaming model. Built on this ingenuity, we have seen the rise of mobile poker, cryptocurrency, and more platforms seeking to push the boundaries of what is possible.
Mixed-reality poker is a model that allows AR, VR, and online players to all converge on the same table. Obviously, this would require a much higher amount of bandwidth and internet speed to become viable, which increases the costs that poker companies incur. If it does gain momentum, though, and people continue to tirelessly scour the iGaming world for innovation, there’s a chance that this could become the new norm.
Technological development is relentless; the rise of AI agents is proving problematic for those concerned about internet speeds. Local servers are being overwhelmed by AI agents, which currently account for more than half of internet activity. As AI companies continue to push ahead with more advanced models, it’s difficult to see how this number moves in the opposite direction anytime soon.
This is why IMT-2030 acts as a critical milestone for gaming companies; it will, in theory, improve speed, render game disconnections obsolete, and rapidly expand the size and smoothness of poker games. A decade from now, online poker could be unrecognizable compared to what it is now, but the roll-out and advance of IMT-2030 will play a pivotal role.
Striving For Innovation – Weighing Up The Pros & Cons
Just because something is innovative or has the potential to be a gamechanger doesn’t mean that the rest of the gaming industry is going to get on board, nor does it mean there’ll be a queue of people looking to completely reshape the way they play the game.
Mark Zuckerberg was waxing lyrical about VR in 2021 and was completely set on it being the tech of the future. After pouring tens of billions of dollars into this tech, he admitted defeat and went all-in on AI at the beginning of 2026.
Maybe he was early, maybe it was a non-starter, who knows? I’ve tried VR gaming and glasses; there’s no denying how creative it is – but if the market isn’t there, then it won’t get traction. Mixed-reality poker sounds like something from a sci-fi film, being able to observe people’s bluffing and body motions, despite the fact you are not even in the same room. But does it have enough panache to truly turn the tide?
Those who prefer the thrill of a conventional game can find a suitable alternative online; strategy remains a defining feature. As you can see in the link below, there’s still such an enormous market for live, gripping entertainment.
For mixed-reality poker to truly thrive, though, it needs to bottle up this highly captivating element of poker and bring it into uncharted waters. 6G technology will facilitate the bandwidth needed for these incredible ideas and should theoretically be able to host games with thousands of players within the same VR experience. How the end product looks and feels is a completely different question.
Looking Ahead
IMT-2030 will be the foundation for any systemic changes we see in poker gaming technology over the next decade. Mixed-reality poker isn’t something that has caught fire, and generally speaking, there doesn’t look as though there’s a major market for it. However, that same statement could have applied to crypto poker in 2014, mobile poker in 2008, and online poker in 1995.
Once we get a better indication of how innovative 6G will be and the direction poker companies plan to take, there will be a stronger basis for speculating how it will be integrated.
With so much money available within iGaming, and many major markets, especially the North American market, still finding their feet, expect to see rapid changes take hold between now and 2030, and for IMT-2030 to accelerate the changes in the poker gaming world that capture the largest market.
Somewhere along the way she found herself doing freelance consulting for small businesses and home users, supporting both Linux and Windows users and integrating Linux and Windows on the LAN, primarily Linux servers and Windows clients. She is the author of the Linux Cookbook, Linux Networking Cookbook, and the Linux Cookbook 2nd Edition for O'Reilly, and has written hundreds of Linux howtos for various publications, .