How to design a casino website: The complete guide

One of the most in-demand websites right now is an online casino, and one of the reasons for this is how it allows players to experience their favourite game in the comfort of their homes. If you're planning to begin your online casino, there's no better time to do it than now. However, designing an online casino is a challenging feat as there are several things you need to consider. You have to put yourself in the shoes of your potential players and find out what looks and feels good for them.

Here at QWERTYLABS, we have created a complete guide that will help you make the best casino website designs to have a huge player base and make huge profits. Here's everything you need to know:

Why is design important?

Contrary to popular belief, having a proper design for your website is more than just for visual appreciation. It plays a more significant role in the user's experience and can make or break a person's decision to return to your site. 

To understand more about its importance, here are some reasons you should know: 

It informs your visitors

Having a high-quality web design is more than just for aesthetics. A great design will not only make an impression on your visitors but also inform them of everything they need to know about your online casino and what it offers.

From various kinds of games to the different payment methods of your site, the most critical parts of the online casino should be neatly presented for the players' convenience. Create categories to make it easier to find what you're offering, and make sure they are placed somewhere players can easily access. 

It makes a great first impression

They say first impressions last, which couldn't be more true when designing a casino website. If your site seems shady, a user will quickly exit and move on to another. According to research conducted by Top Design Firms in 2021, 42% of users will leave a site when they experience poor functionality. Almost half of your visitors could be your potential loyal players.

Additionally, your online casino's design can also give the first impression of users. Another research that supports this was done by Top Design Firms, which concluded that 42% of users would leave a site if they thought the web design was outdated. Statistics aside, you can take it from your own experience. When searching for something online, and it takes you to a website that isn't designed properly, you're more likely to go back to the results page and choose another site.

It improves user engagement

When building an online casino, or any website, it's crucial to generate user engagement rather than rack up user traffic. User traffic can simply mean a visitor stopped by your website and clicked back to the search engine's result page. On the other hand, user engagement means that the visitor stopped by your website, read your blogs, played your games, left a comment on your post or did other activities.

You can increase user engagement if visitors can easily use your site. This will give them a seamless experience with zero hassle in accessing everything they want to see. It's best to ensure user management since it provides better benefits for your online casino. Additionally, more engagement means your profits will go up as well.

It's easier to market

Most importantly, having a proper design for your online casino makes it easier to market. For instance, if a loyal player of yours decides to recommend your online casino to a friend, they will be more enticed to try it out, especially if they see it has a pleasing and functional web design. Additionally, user reviews play a huge role in this. When potential clients want to see what your site offers, chances are they'll look at the review. If your online casino features positive feedback, your site will draw in even more players.

Designing your casino website

It's time to get into the nitty-gritty of designing your website. To help you get started, here are some of the most important things to keep in mind:

Set a budget

Your budget is one of the first and most vital things you need to consider early on when designing your casino website. Setting a budget helps determine how much you can spend on your web design. As much as possible, don't cut corners when allocating your funds for the design, as it can downgrade the look and feel of your online casino. Additionally, your original vision for the design may have yet to come to fruition.

Know your target audience

An important question you need to ask yourself is, 'who is this online casino for?'. Once you've determined your target audience, you can better visualise your online casino.

With this in mind, the two things you also need to consider are the following:

Colour scheme

People must learn that colours can affect a user's mood and perspective. For instance, red is believed to entice a customer's appetite, which is why it's used in various restaurants such as Mcdonald's, KFC and Wendy's.

A great colour you can incorporate into your web design is orange since it's believed to exude optimism, which is a crucial feeling for gambling. After all, most of the games found on these sites are based on luck.

People associate the colour black with being sleek, classy, premium and luxurious, especially if paired with gold. It can be associated with nightlife closely related to gambling and the general nature of a casino. Several online casinos also use black as a background colour since it is a great base to build your colour scheme around, considering that it's a neutral shade. Lastly, with this colour as a background, you can use a vibrant colour on different page buttons to indicate that they're clickable.

Choose your theme

If you want your brand to be instantly recognisable, you have to establish a theme. There are several ways you can mimic a brick-and-mortar casino, and it's up to you which path to take based on the theme you choose. Do you want to make the casino have an 80s vibe or a more rustic vibe that mimics the old-timey establishments in the old west? It's up to you, and the possibilities are endless!

Display all certifications

One thing that users will immediately look for when entering a new online casino is its certification to verify its legitimacy. These certifications prove that your online casino is regulated by a governing body, making it legit.

To make your website look and feel more reputable, we recommend displaying all your certifications somewhere users can immediately find them. As much as possible, you want to keep these certificates a secret since these may make your website deem untrustworthy.

Some established online casinos display their certifications on the homepage, while others place them at the bottom of their page. This way, it's easy to find the certifications, and your visitors won't have to search every nook and cranny of your site.

Optimise the site for mobile devices

Nowadays, the mobile gambling industry is at an all-time high, and various web casinos have already adapted to this technological evolution by developing mobile apps. Moreover, some users prefer gambling on their mobile devices, and the last thing they want is a poorly-ported version of the web casino.

Aside from developing apps optimised on tablets and smartphones, you can also have the web version perform optimally on mobile phones. Navigating the web version can feel clunky on mobile devices, which can be frustrating. It can throw off some users and result in them finding an alternative. 

Prioritise easy navigation

Once potential players visit your online casino, they're most likely excited to try all your gambling options. You don't want to kill their excitement by making it difficult to find what they're looking for, so you need to prioritise easy navigation.

Although web design has a lot to do with aesthetics, it's important not to shift all your focus to this department. After all, a user interface would only be effective if users can easily navigate the site.

Integrate interactive design elements

Aside from the website's look, it's also essential to integrate interactive design elements into your website. This way, rather than showing a loading screen, you can show smooth and sophisticated animations to immerse the user more in their gambling experience.

Use various images

It's ideal for breaking thick chunks of text since this can be unpleasant to the eyes of users. They may also get overwhelmed with the information you're throwing at them with your long paragraphs. To give these important texts some breathing space, incorporate several images into your web design. Additionally, ensure that the images you'll use are associated with what's being discussed in the text.

If you want to make your site pleasing, you should also use images of real people instead of vector graphics. Doing this will make the users see themselves through these images, making your site feel closer to your users. 

Separate game categories

The selection of online gambling games is one of the first things potential players look for in an online casino. To showcase your site's expansive collection, we recommend separating them by their respective categories.

For instance, you can put all your online video slots in their neat section while live dealer games are on another page. Doing this will make the user interface look cleaner and more organised. Additionally, to make things easier for your site visitors, consider having a filter option where they can choose what they want to see.

Analyse feedback and make necessary changes

It's essential to keep an open mind and consider what your visitors think about your site to have the perfect design for your online casino. You can make the necessary changes and grow your player base.

Fortunately, several online tools allow you to track your user activity, including Google Analytics. This useful tool helps you monitor various user data on your site, such as bounce rate. For a more detailed description of Google Analytics, know everything about it here at QWERTYLABS.

Things to avoid in casino website designs

Mistakes are inevitable when starting an online casino. That's why it's best to know what they are so you can avoid them soon. Here are some that you should know about:

Overload a page with information

Overloading a page with information can be a sore sight; chances are, your visitors will only take the time to read through some things. As mentioned before, you want to use something other than text-heavy layouts with your page and instead use images to break paragraphs into smaller sections. You should also create categories to separate what your site offers into its sections.

Making important texts unreadable

An essential part of designing your casino website is choosing the right colour for your text. You don't want your texts to be unreadable, so you should think carefully about what colour to use for this. To prevent unreadable texts, make sure to use contrasting colours. Alternatively, you can put your text on cards to stay consistent with the background.

Choosing an overly-saturated colour scheme

With the possible colours you can choose for your online casino, you should avoid overly-saturated colours. This can be painful, and your visitors won't last long on your site. 

What it all boils down to…

In a nutshell, an effective casino website perfectly balances functionality with aesthetics, and hopefully, you can achieve this with the tips we've mentioned above. From optimising your site for all devices to choosing a pleasing colour scheme, these simple tips will help you create the best casino website.

If you want to take your online casino's design to the next level, feel free to contact us and design a casino website with QWERTYLABS! We'll be more than happy to lend you our services so you can begin building your player base to gain bigger profits.