By Mitch Rice
It was not as easy to access online casinos as Magyar online casino back in the 1990s. Today, all you have to do is launch a casino on a browser. Some even have applications. It is worth looking back at the early days of online casinos. In this article, we will show you a brief history of the online gambling universe, plus our predictions of what is about to come.
The Early 1990s
It was in 1994 when Microgaming first launched the official online casino. Microgaming was a small company in South Africa. It was them that created the first true online casino.
The name of that casino was The Gaming Club. It was made possible because of the Free Trade and Processing Act, a law allowing the licensing of online gambling websites.
The law was passed in Antigua and Barbuda. It was passed in the same year, 1994. Although Microgaming was the first, there were others that were developing their own online casinos. In 1996, InterCasino was born.
From here, the casino industry became a competitive space. It was Microgaming that started it all, but then there are other companies that claim that they were the first.
1998 Onwards
In 1998, casinos became so popular that they became a staple in the gambling industry. However, it was in 1998 that the first poker site went online. This poker site is Planet Poker.
For almost a year, Planet Poker was the only site that offered poker. However, others came into the picture and drowned Planet Poker. Some examples of these companies are Party Poker and Paradise Poker. PokerStars also went live a year after Planet Poker.
By the early 2000s, online gambling was so big that the US government had to do something. The US introduced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. This law made it illegal for somebody to accept bets from someone who lived in a state where gambling is not legal.
Because of this law, many casino operators shut down. Gambling companies began to take their license from the US and other European states by reason of it.
The Future of Gambling
Today, there are thousands of online gambling websites. Although not all of them support all countries, you can surely find one that provides its services to your nation.
Some of the best developments we have seen so far are:
- Live dealer games – these are games operated in a studio. The dealers are real people, and you bet while streaming the game. As of this time, this is the closest that one can experience to a live, land-based casino.
- Megaways – these are slot machines that offer thousands of ways to win. Megaways is a trademark of Big Time Gaming. Megaways slots have reel modifiers, making it possible to win in so many ways.
- Multiple jackpots – these slot jackpots are called mini, minor, major, and mega. There are different ways to get these jackpot prizes. Usually, these are on a ladder system, which means you cannot win the mega jackpot unless you win the other three first.
- Progressive jackpot – this is a slot jackpot that consistently increases in size. It keeps increasing until somebody hits it.
What Will the Future Hold?
There are several things that we are looking at as part of the growth of the casino industry. For now, we see more and more casinos that accept cryptocurrency. The problem with gambling is that many banks and credit card issuers do not want to support the industry.
As it becomes more difficult to deposit money into a casino account, it now makes more sense to use cryptocurrency. Right now, most casinos only accept bitcoin and ETH. In the future, we are looking forward that they will accept more types of cryptocurrencies.
Another major development is that the casinos will also release virtual reality games. These are not just simple VR games where you wear a special headset. We expect casinos to build a real virtual world, like Sandbox or Decentraland. Inside this virtual world is a casino where you can “walk” and interact with people and games.
Online gaming is at the forefront of technology. As part of the gaming industry, casino and game development companies consistently look for better ways to entertain gamers. While we may not see significant leaps and bounds soon, there surely will be changes in the gambling industry. For one, we can probably expect casinos to be more welcoming of cryptocurrencies.
Whatever changes happen in the future, all of these are for the benefit of gamers. Let’s just sit tight and wait for these good things to come!
Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.
