The very first online casino exposed in 1996 and remains to be today. Actually, there are many casinos that exposed the very first several years that gambling has been on the Internet (and hundreds since), which makes it one of the most successful online industries ever. Nonetheless it wasn’t always success and easy roads for the web casino industry, as you will soon see.
Even before InterCasino opened their virtual doors in 1996, there clearly was a ton of opposition. Lawmakers and anti-gambling groups lined around take their pot shot at the upcoming online casino openings. But once the High Commission of Antigua and Barbuda in the West Indies passed the “Free Trade and Processing Zone Act”, the pieces were in position to make online casino history. They started the Division of Gaming to give out the very first official jurisdictional licenses in order that potential operators could now legally open their online casinos. Considering that the US and other big countries refused to give out these licenses, this is a huge element of online casino history.
Luckily since then, various other jurisdictions have started issuing licenses all around the world, including Canada, the UK and more. But that list stops in short supply of the United States, which still steadfastly won’t issue licenses.
The first online casinos were met with plenty of skepticism, as sending information like credit cards, names and addresses online was still met with plenty of suspicion. Online casinos were thought to be shady or run by the mob. Slow connections meant stalled programs and graphics and too little quality software providers in the fledgling industry meant plenty of stalled platforms.
Enter CryptoLogic and Microgaming, two online casino history pioneers. CryptoLogic went out of the way to provide encryption technology to the web casinos, meaning that sensitive information like bank card numbers were now safe from hackers. Microgaming was among the first and still one คาสิโนออนไลน์ เครดิตฟรี 100 บาท of the greatest software providers, making crisp graphics and realistic sound when these specific things were still hard to come by online. Cable modems and DSL lines made it faster and easier to start downloading software, with less lag and connection problems.
All that has been left to do was to earn trust, which started happening in 1999. That has been the year that Microgaming, in an attempt to show the honesty on most online casinos, struck an agreement with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, one of the most famous and honest accounting firms in the world. PWC agreed to start auditing the web casinos’ payout percentages, to prove they did indeed payout large sums of money- in many cases, more than Las Vegas casinos.
Because of all of these developments, the new millennium started the Golden Age for online casinos. The first IPO for online casino stock became available, more jurisdictions came online and the very first Progressive Jackpots awarded millions to lucky customers. Business was booming.
Right after, Poker started to dominate the airwaves, and Poker Rooms, many connected with online casinos, became all the rage. With the boom in online Poker Room technology, the web casino industry took in billions in 2004, with profits anticipated to triple and possibly even quadruple by 2010.
Unfortunately, there will continue being a whole lot more to write about online casino history later. The reason being a continues to possess opposition in several camps, which shows no sign of stopping. People like Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona introduce bill after bill wanting to shut down online casinos, make it illegal for US citizens to play at them, or at the least ban US credit cards from used to fund online casino gambling.
Though none of the measures has ever passed, they continue being introduced. With the surge in popularity lately, though, it does not look like they will make much headway. Hopefully, which means the following chapter of online casino history has more bright spots than legal ones.
