The 1st online casino opened up in 1996 and remains to be today. Actually, there are several casinos that opened up the very first few years that gambling has been on the Internet (and hundreds since), which makes it one of the most successful online industries ever. However 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 was a huge amount of opposition. Lawmakers and anti-gambling groups lined as much as take their pot shot at the upcoming online casino openings. But when 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 start their online casinos. Since the US and other big countries refused to give out these licenses, this is a huge section of online casino history.
Luckily since that time, many jurisdictions have started issuing licenses throughout the world, including Canada, the UK and more. But that list stops in short supply of the United States, which still steadfastly refuses to issue licenses.
The very first online casinos were met with plenty of skepticism, as sending information like bank cards, names and addresses on the internet was still met with plenty of suspicion. Online casinos were considered to be shady or run by the mob. Slow connections meant stalled programs and graphics and a lack of quality software providers in the fledgling industry meant plenty of stalled platforms.
Enter CryptoLogic and Microgaming, two online casino history pioneers. CryptoLogic sought out of these way to provide encryption technology to the web casinos, and therefore sensitive information like charge card numbers were now safe from hackers. Microgaming was one of many first and still one คาสิโนออนไลน์ เครดิตฟรี 100 บาท of the best software providers, making crisp graphics and realistic sound when these exact things were still hard to come by online. Cable modems and DSL lines made it faster and more convenient to start downloading software, with less lag and connection problems.
All which was left to complete was to earn trust, which started happening in 1999. That was the season that Microgaming, in an endeavor showing the honesty of 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 which they did indeed payout large sums of money- in many cases, more than Las Vegas casinos.
As a result of most of these developments, the brand new millennium started the Golden Age for online casinos. The very 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.
Soon after, Poker started to dominate the airwaves, and Poker Rooms, many affiliated 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 expected to triple and maybe even quadruple by 2010.
Unfortunately, there will continue to be a lot more to publish about online casino history later. This is because the industry continues to possess opposition in several camps, which shows no sign of stopping. People like Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona introduce bill after bill attempting to power down online casinos, make it illegal for US citizens to play at them, or at the very least ban US bank cards from used to fund online casino gambling.
Though none of these measures has ever passed, they continue to be introduced. With the surge in popularity lately, though, it generally does not look like they will make much headway. Hopefully, this means that the following chapter of online casino history has more bright spots than legal ones.