History of online gambling

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Gambling is as old as the road to Rome, casino’s have also existed for centuries and might never disappear. It is in the human nature to gamble. People want to take risks and hope to win prices. It is the adrenalinekick that makes gambling so popular.

People used to gamble in different ways: people bet on wars or who was the best hunter. Table and dice games were introduced much later. These games were a relatively simple way to achieve the kick of gambling. Card games, roulette and betting on sport games came even later. All these casino have something in common: they still a hunger.

Casino’s are the most exclusive place to gamble. Casino players enjoy the unique entourage of a nice casino.

The gambling world looks different these days. Some of the old casino’s are stil here but the modern technology has changed a lot. Especially after people started to gamble on the internet. The internet has significantly changed the world and there fore also the world of gambling. Online gambling has spread very fast and is therefore now one of the most profitable internet sectors.  The yearly turnover can be measured in billions and keeps growing every year.

Governments all over the world have tried to interfere with online gambling. In some countries online casino’s have been prohibited. An example of this is the recent gambling law in the United States. History, however has taught us that gambling cannot be stopped. If you try to do so, people will find other ways to gamble.

Online gambling started in Antigua and Barbuda. These islands were the center of online gambling in 1994. In that year a law was passed in Antigua that made it possible to give out gambling licenses from there. Online gambling started at that point in time, many people still have this license.

These new licenses made many companies want to develop casino software. One of these companies was Microgaming, a software company from the island Man. This company developed the first fully operational online casino. Cryptologic later developped the first software for online security, that made transactions between the player and the casino safe. The result of this was the start of InterCasino, the first online casino.

Gambling in the US:

Gambling had always had a strange image in the US. The public opinion about gambling and casino’s was constantly changing. In the last decade of the 19^th century, gambling was illegal in the United States. That was mostly applied to lotteries, the most popular form of gambling at that time. In the 1920’s gambling became more popular again because of the changed public opinion.

Especially after the Stockmarket crash of 1929, people believed that gambling could stimulate the economy. It would however have to happen in a regulated way. Gambling became fully legal in 1931. This was in Nevada. Americans finally got a place to gamble and Las Vegas was born. It was in the 1970’s when other casino’s were opened on river boats and in Indian reservations.

Legal gambling was allowed in all states in the 70s, except in two, and the total proifit of all casino’s surpassed that of all entertainment companies combinend.

Online gambling:

Online gambling started in the 90’s . This caused a revolution in the gambling world. The new technology made it possible to gamble wherever and whenever. The first online casinos were rather limited in their game choices. These days there is a wide aray to choose from. Form betting to games, form blackjack to roulette and from gambling machines to bingo.  Online casino’s offer lots of possibilites and there is a casino for everyone.

In the last few years online casinos have been bugged by new laws. Many companies saw their profits go down and their customers leave. Especially in America, where online gambling is illegal, a lot of casinos got hit hard. Casinos are for everyone.