The online casino industry began in the mid-1990s. However, in the mid-2000s Internet gambling establishments began to be considered legitimate, regulated businesses with controls in place to protect players and casinos. In this article, we will look at how the online gambling industry has developed.
The Development of Online Casinos in the 1990s
In 1994, when the Internet was at one of its initial stages of development, the state of Barbuda and Antigua, located in the Caribbean, was the first to begin the process of regulating the gambling market on the Internet.
In 1996, the online casino InterCasino was created, marking the official start of what would become one of the most successful forms of entertainment. This gambling establishment has become not only an innovator in the field of online gambling but also in the field of software use. The current trendsetter is Zodiac Casino which offers new approaches to the service.
In just a few years, the number of gambling sites has increased tenfold: In 1997, there were about 200 online casinos on the Internet. In 1998, online gambling revenues totalled $834 million.
The Growth of Online Casinos in the 2000s and the Beginning of Government Regulation
The wider the Internet coverage became, the more players preferred online casinos. However, Western governments were also interested in a new area:
In 2001, a government organization appeared in Australia that oversees online gambling activities.
In 2006, the US authorities introduced a ban on receiving payments for the entire gaming segment on the Internet, which forced owners of casinos registered outside the United States (mainly in Antigua and Barbuda and the Isle of Man) to look for other ways to receive payments from customers.
In 2008, Germany and France joined the policy of banning online casinos.
Since 2011, the WTO has repeatedly advocated the abolition of these restrictions, but to no avail. The only example that breaks this picture is Canada, where in 2004 the government launched its PlayNow casino.
The Status of the Internet Gambling Market Now
A significant impact on the development of the online sphere is the emergence of a new market segment – mobile applications and the spread of mobile phones as access points to the Internet. Governments began to gradually weaken measures aimed at banning casino activities on the Internet. The pragmatic line within authorities and the realization that it is better to have a legal market from which taxes are levied than an unregulated black market for online gambling has affected the entire market. The demand for online casino services has only grown and continues to grow even now.
Today, online casinos are the main part of online gambling. It is impossible to ignore the advantages that they have over traditional institutions. Online casino software has become even more progressive and in demand. Many companies now have adaptive functionality to work on any newly released smartphone or tablet.