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Entertainment

A Brief History of Online Casinos

Until 1994, you had to leave your house to go to a casino. That is when everything changed for the gambling industry. Thanks to the actions of some forward thinking professionals, Lucky Creek online casino and others were able to entertain players from the privacy of their own homes.

The beginning

It all started when the Free Trade & Processing Act was passed. This allowed for organizations to apply for a license to own and operate their own casinos online. Microgaming, based in Isle of Man, was then the first company to create the gambling software that powers online casinos.

By the end of 1996, the first gaming commission was established in the Mohawk territory called Kahnawake. This was a step that was taken so that each online casino could fairly establish themselves. That year, fifteen gambling sites were in operation for the first time ever. However, one year later that number had skyrocketed to 200 gambling sites.

The momentum of online casinos continued and gained strength every day. In fact, by 1998, the industry amassed in excess of $830 million in revenue for the year. This was partly due to the launching of many online Poker rooms as well.

Poker and multiplayer gambling

Being able to play Poker online was the catalyst for the introduction of multiplayer gambling. As the industry continued to grow, before the start of 2002, eight million people had begun to engage in online gambling. In 2008, the industry grew so much that it amassed $21 billion worth of revenue.

The growth of the industry is considered remarkable when you take into account that there have always been legal issues surrounding online gambling. In the beginning, many countries were opposed to allowing it. One example of this is the online gambling industry in Canada. The country has not outright banned online gambling. But what it has done is limit the legality of online casinos to those that can be regulated by the country.

Most players choose to join one of the many offshore based online casinos. With as many as 1400 to choose from, very few Canadians are played at casinos based in Canada.

This went on until 2004, when a legalized online casino began operations in Canada. It was run by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and gave residents of both Manitoba, and British Columbia, the chance to gamble online legally.

Rules and regulations

It took eight years for online gambling to soar in popularity, due to the strict rules regarding this activity. The estimate in 2012 was that online gamblers in Manitoba were spending a collective $37 million to play at online casinos that were operating illegally.

The online gambling industry in Germany was also plagued by legal issues. Online gaming in almost any form was deemed illegal. The only type of gambling allowed online was horse betting. In more recent years, individual states within Germany were permitted to legalize online gambling, though only Schleswig-Holstein did so.

The history of the online gambling industry has experienced some rocky patches. Only time will tell if this continues.

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