The History of Online Gaming.

Gambling games have been around for hundreds of years, and will continue to exist, without a doubt, for a long while yet. This is a matter of human nature, it drives people to play, wager money and take risks, all in the hope of winning some money.

During the coursed of history, gambling games have come in all sorts of different formats; firstly, in the form of betting, whether that be ion the outcome of a fight, a battle, or even which is the fastest boar.

Secondly, came the games involving dice and other primitive objects, which allowed earlier humans to discover the world of gambling and relatively safe risk taking, at least it mostly did not involve violence. And these earlier types of gambling gave way to the more sophisticated games of today; roulette, cards, sports bets, and all the other types of betting games that are around today.

Beyond all the differences that you find in gambling games today, they all share similar beginnings; each one is humanities attempt to escape into leisure, a means of socialising in a fun way, in a unique way, where people understand each other and share in similar excitement and entertainment, or not, if you lose.

Casinos were, and still are, sophisticated establishments to frequent; sacrificed to the pursuit of gambling. They offer an atmosphere, which is unique and fascinating to both professionals and amateurs.

However, all this has become superseded by new technological developments; notably by the invention of the information super highway, a.k.a. the Internet.

In effect, the Internet has changed our lives in many ways, and in almost all spheres of life. Gambling games are no exception!

The popularity of gambling online has literally exploded, to the point that today; it is one of the most successful global industries, with an annual turnover of billions and billions of dollars.

It is true, however, has recently run up against a massive brick wall with the anti-gaming laws in the United States- but, if you only remember one lesson form history let it be this, gambling has never been completely eradicated from anywhere, and it always creeps back in the end.

Birth of Internet gambling:
It all began in the Caribbean; in 1994 the Antilles Islands became the catalyst for the Internet gambling industry. 1994 was the year that Antigua voted in favour of a law that legalised gambling licences for use on the Internet.

This allowed not only the birth of gambling games online, but also their modification and re-formatting to create Internet friendly gambling games. In effect, the majority of online gambling societies have their origins in the Caribbean, because this was the first place to issue gambling licences.

In view of the new opportunities that were arising- before the first opening of an online casino- the gambling software was already being developed. Microgaming, from the Isle of Man, developed the first fully operational casino software for online sites, and where they lead, others followed. Microgaming are still one of the largest providers of gambling software on the net today, but this may be set to change as the United States has banned their sites from operating within the American economy.

CryptoLogic also helped the development of Internet casinos, by providing security software that protected gamblers accounts and financial information from unscrupulous hackers.

Nonetheless, in spite of appearances, the launch of the online gambling industry was far from simple. The obstacles that needed to be overcome were numerous, particularly regarding the legality of the industry. A great many people were against allowing a gambling market online for fear of the associated addictions and problems that are often, falsely, cited when it comes to issues of gambling.

The battles raged, particularly in the American congress. A name you should be familiar with is Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, who tried numerous times to ban American citizens from gambling online (what a patronising, boring-old, party-pooper!!), notably he organised several high profile campaigns and manifestos in order to put pressure on the government (what an irritating little man!!!)- see links below for competing views of the risks and benefits of gambling.

Gambling in the United States:
The general American public always saw the gambling industry as being positive then negative, there opinions fluctuated between the two extremes.

In the 1890's, for example, gambling games were totally banned- in an era when the lotteries were the most popular games.

In the 19120's, public opinion allowed for a U-turn in legislation, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 allowed people to begin to gamble again because the economists believed that gambling would allow the economy to pick up again. Maybe the American public should get out there and tell their government to open up the gambling industry to the global economy, they are after all part of it and rely on the rest of it to be functioning effectively in order for their own economy to withstand the current crisis, just a thought.

In 1931, Nevada made gambling completely legal, and we began to see the casinos of today springing up o, Las Vegas.

Internet Gambling and New Technologies:
60 years later, in the 1990's, the WWW revolutionised the world of gambling. It effectively helped to break with traditions and create virtual worlds capable of much greater feats than can be undertaken in the real world, it broke through time and space barriers- people can play, in real time, other people from practically every other country in the world, except the party pooper ones ;).

In the beginning, online casinos offered on average, 18 games, the revenue turned over in 1997 was approximately $1 billion, 60 of which came from the United State. In 2006 this amount had more that quintupled, and reached a massive $15 billion!!!!

Although the online gambling industry has suffered via the loss of the gaming capacity of American citizens, new markets are opening up all the time, particularly in Asia and the South Pacific, and maybe, given the current global economic crisis, the American congress may vote in favour of a reversal, in view of the fact that gambling industries have always prospered in times of financial depression.

 

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