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The History Of Online Casinos

In today's world, technology evolves at an astonishing rate. Yesterday's smartphone seemed like something fantastic and unreal, and now it's actively used by almost everyone. A little more than twenty years have passed since the internet became available to everyone. Today, the global network has spread its virtual thread from almost every house, linking together every person on Earth. On the world wide web people communicate, work, and, of course, have fun. In this article, we'll discuss online gambling, as this industry evolves extremely quickly, and is one where even small companies have annual turnover in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. So how did it all begin?

Article Highlights:

Origins   |   First Appearance Of Online Casinos And Bookmakers   |   Security And Safety

The Rise And Fall Of Online Casinos   |   The Present And Future Of Gambling On the Web  

Origins

The origin of online casinos. Gambling appeared almost immediately after the occurrence of the global network. A pioneer in the field of online gambling was the Playtech company, which in 1996 opened an online casino - Europa Casino. A year later, in 1997, Playtech started the first virtual bookmaking company, pushing the shareholders of major companies in a new way and showing the potential of the virtual market. In the next few years, software manufacturers began to adapt existing products for the online world, and create entirely new ones. In turn, the online casino segment became extremely popular.

1994-1997: First Appearance Of Online Casinos And Online Bookmakers

In 1998, gambling establishments originated the concept of the online progressive jackpot, which also contributed to the rapid growth in popularity among online casinos. A small proportion of funds spent by players was formed into a single impressive prize. This reward system had instant success, and became a great advertising tool for online gambling on the web.

      Interesting Facts

• Online casinos offer a much larger percentage of winnings to players than the best casinos in Las Vegas.
  
  
• The largest win in virtual casino gambling was $8,000,000.
  
  
• In the 1990s, online gambling was unregulated and subject to scam operators. A lot of gamblers lost their money without a chance of winning.
  
  
• Modern online slot machines offer players a high payout percentage up to 98%.

Security And Safety

Of course, in a completely new segment of the gambling industry legal basis was absent and, accordingly, first time gamblers could rely only on the honesty and integrity of online casino administrators. The situation changed in 2003 with the formation of eCOGRA, which is a commercial organization dedicated to the verification and certification of gambling establishments, as well as the protection of customers of online casinos. Only trusted and verified online casinos have the eCOGRA seal of approval and are listed on the company’s website.

The Rise And Fall Of Online Casinos

In 2003, the annual cash turnover of all online casinos in the world exceeded $8.5 billion, most of which was formed by US residents. This fact had already caused disputes, and in 2006 became the occasion of the legislative prohibition of gambling in the global network, which was signed into law by the country's president, George Bush. Over the next three years, America's democratic party worked hard to change situation and “un-ban” the gambling prohibition, but they failed to do so.

The Present And Future Of Gambling On The Web

The global network holds more than 15,000 different online gambling websites at the moment, which grow and evolve each day. Online, users have a wide range of products which can not be compared to any regular casino. Many virtual clubs even offer their guests a real mode of entertainment with live dealers. Modern slot machines have the widest range of benefits and provide guests with the best variety of games, coupled with a surprisingly high percentage of payments to players, which varies in the range of 90-98%. It's very likely that the evolution of online casinos and their hardware sooner or later will bring us virtual reality. The VR sets like HTC Vive and OCULUS RIFT are already available for order, so it’s really just a matter of time when one of the companies will make gambling software for VR headsets.

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