History of Online Casino
The history of online casino begins in 1994. At that time the young company Microgaming came up with a full-fledged platform for gambling entertainment on the Internet. Naturally, the games were rather modest given the speed of the Internet, but for the early 90’s it was a real breakthrough. However, without another event, this boom would not have been possible – in the same year, the state of Antigua and Barbuda passes the Free Trade and Data Processing Act, which allows it to license online gambling activities.
The first online casino
It only took two years for the first online casino to appear. Who owns the debut – Gaming Club by Microgaming or Intercasino by CryptoLogic remains unknown. They both claim to be the pioneers of the field. And if in 1996 there were only a dozen of such sites, by the end of 1997, there were more than 200 pieces. During this period, appeared first machine with the drawing of the jackpot from Micrigaming – Cash Splash, which has survived to this day. Other offshore countries are also beginning to license, and other developers are beginning to enter the arena: Playtech and Net Entertainment, which is known today as NetEnt.
In 2000, Alderney (mainly for game development), the Isle of Man and Gibraltar start issuing gaming licenses. Total revenue from online gambling reaches $2.2 billion. In 2001, the UK joins the regulation, which was already at that time has put serious demands on operators. The number of players on the network exceeds 8 million. 2002 was a landmark year for all – for the first time in history, the jackpot was hit over $1,000,000. After such an event, more and more players turned their attention to bitcoin casinos – just a year and the number of players is approaching the 40 million mark.
Black Friday
Another landmark in history is the year 2006, referred to as Black Friday. Because of fraudulent maneuvers with the deposits of a famous poker room, online gambling becomes illegal in the United States. The gambling world quickly recovered from the loss and began to explore other markets. In 2009 the Android operating system becomes available to all and the era of mobile gambling begins. Mobile games are developing at a breakneck speed – a niche valued at $ 5 billion, and to the delight of all inveterate players, Novomatic translates its mega-popular “Gaminator” on the platform HTML5.
Online casino jackpot
In 2011, plucked the biggest jackpot – $ 11.7 million, a couple of years later this figure increases to $ 17.9 million, and in 2018 set a world record – $ 18.9 million. Winnings of 1-2 million become commonplace and are not even covered in the media. The mobile world is winning – in 2016, 60% of players use their smartphones for betting, and more than 80% of new customers come to casinos through mobile devices.
Online casino industry
Today, the online casino industry brings in the order of $50 billion a year. Players get to have fun, and states get extra tax revenue. There’s no hint that this area will show a decline in the coming years. In 2018, NetEnt released the first VR slot of its kind, but this area is probably not yet well explored – virtual reality is still a unique phenomenon in the gambling world. Although in the near future everything may change.