History of Online Casinos
Gambling can be traced to the Old Stone Age, when prehistoric humans lived across the earth. Online gaming arrived much later. The first-ever online casino was not established until 1996, just six years after computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web. Since that point, the online gambling market has expanded substantially year by year and, according to Hexa Research, was expected to reach $73.45 billion globally by 2024.
The Earliest Online Casinos
Online casinos can be traced to 1994, when Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade & Processing Act and allowed organizations to apply for online casino licences. Just two years later, the first-ever casino appeared on the web. InterCasino became the first casino to accept real-money wagers online. Over the last 20-plus years, InterCasino has paid out more than $3 billion in winnings. The original online casino relied on CryptoLogic, a financial transaction software provider, to support secure online transactions.
The Kahnawake Gambling Commission was established in 1996. This licensing authority was owned and operated by a Mohawk Indian tribe in Canada and created to issue gaming licences. Around that time, leading online casino software developers Microgaming and NetEnt also entered the market. They released some of the era's most innovative games, including slots, progressive jackpots and a broad range of table and card games. Internet gambling websites grew from just 15 in 1996 to over 200 in 1997.
Online casinos soon began gaining momentum. By 1998, a Frost & Sullivan report stated that online gambling revenues had exceeded $830 million. The opening of the first internet poker room in the same year broadened online gambling even further. Planet Poker brought Texas Hold’em to the internet in January 1998, creating the first real-money cardroom for online poker players and helping drive the rapid growth of online poker gambling sites.
Innovations in Online Gambling
Online casinos reached several important milestones during the early online gambling era. The growth of virtual casinos and poker sites helped sports betting gain popularity. In 1996, InterTops became the first platform to give sports fans a way to bet on their favourite teams. Leading bookmakers such as Ladbrokes and William Hill soon opened their own online gambling sites. Multiplayer online gaming arrived in 1999, letting players gamble and chat together in an interactive online setting.
As the sector developed, gambling websites faced increasing difficulty staying afloat. Introduced in 1999, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act was intended to stop companies from providing online gambling products to U.S. citizens. Although the Act did not pass, it influenced later policy efforts. In 2000, the first Australian Federal Government passed the Interactive Gambling Moratorium Act, making it illegal for online casinos that were not licensed and operating before May 2000 to continue. Despite these restrictions, the number of online gaming players climbed to over 8 million in 2001 and continued to rise.
By 2003, discussions between the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Association of Broadcasters suggested that online gambling advertisements might be made illegal across major media outlets. Antigua, home to many online gambling companies, challenged the proposed ban, arguing that stopping gambling advertisements would breach free trade agreements. The dispute reached the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sided with Antigua and Barbuda against the policy intended to halt online gambling in the U.S.
In 2006, the U.S. banned all online gambling services, creating a serious setback for the industry. After Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), gambling businesses were prohibited from knowingly accepting payments for online bets or wagers governed by rules and regulations published in federal or state laws. Some states also acted directly against gambling sites in an effort to stop online gambling in the U.S. Kentucky even attempted to seize 141 gambling site domain names, including poker.com and pokerstars.com.
Modern Stance on Online Gambling
While gambling in the U.S. came to a halt in 2006, its popularity continued to grow elsewhere. Across Europe, the online gambling industry surged in 2010, as operators reached new agreements with payment-processing companies to support secure online transactions. Apple responded to demand by bringing mobile gaming to products such as the iPad and iPhone in 2011. A select number of U.S. states also legalized online gambling. By 2013, online gaming had gone live in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey.
Progress and change in online gambling have continued in recent years. Microgaming celebrated its largest progressive jackpot win in 2015, worth more than £13.2 million. In 2016, the software developer launched virtual reality headset games using virtual reality technology from Oculus Rift. As technology has advanced rapidly, the appearance and performance of modern online casinos have continued to develop. In 2018, Omnia Casino used new technology to launch the world's very first completely artificial intelligence-built web-based casino.
Online gambling has a long and varied history. Today, thousands of gambling sites attract players looking for slots, table games, jackpots, sports betting and Live Casino.
