New to online gambling: online gambling history
History of online gambling
Long before there was online gambling there was land-based gambling. Gambling is age-old entertainment. According to the experts, gambling has a very rich history which can be lead back for ages and ages. History's greatest nations, such as the Greek, Egyptians and Chinese already gambled for entertainment purposes.
This chapter of 'New to online gambling' is all about the history of online gambling. How did our favorite entertainment industry grew out to what it is these days? Where did it all started?
Read this chapter to learn all about the history of online gambling. This article is extensive and will be updated every once in a while.
As everybody knows, before there was online gambling there was land-based gambling first! Read and learn all about the history of online gambling
Did Christ played Craps?
In contradistinction to online gambling, t never became clear who was first with land-based gambling. What we do know is that gambling exist for over thousands of years. Of course, people never had such beautiful (online) gambling establishments as we have nowadays, but you'll be surprised to find out the likenesses in the games we play.
For example, dices from invory where found a couple of years ago. Those dices belonged to ancient China and where made 1500 Before Christ. Think of it, there is the possibility that Christ played Craps.
Gambling related writings were also found in pyramids. Ancient India and ancient Greece also used gambling gambling for entertainment purposes.
In the middle-ages gambling was so popular that England's King Henry VIII forbid his soldiers to participate in gambling activities because gambling kept his man off work. The Chinese are known as the introducers of the cards game. After the paper and the paper money the cards game was the best paper invention of the Chinese.
A fascinating story tells us that the card deck as we know it by know was brought to us by the French. After a battle against some Muslim army, the French stole a cards deck from one of the dead soldiers. This cards game had kings, jacks, jokers but no queens. The French on their turn added the queen to the cards deck. This cards deck became the 52-cards deck as we al know it by now
First casino
Clever entrepreneurs saw the upcoming gambling market as an interesting business opportunity. Just as the online gambling market is an interesting market these days. The raising popularity of gambling caused an overwhelming demand on locations where gambling took place. Therefore it became very interesting for businessman to open up gambling establishments worldwide.
In the beginning of the 16th century the first casino opened its doors in Venice, Italy. Casino is Italian for 'a small villa' In the 19th century, casino became the collective term for public buildings where gambling and sports betting took place.
The first casinos only offered gambling. Visitors came to the casino to gamble on a wide variety of casino games. For ages gambling was the only purpose of a casino. In the 19th century casinos became entertainment centers with drinks, food and live entertainment. Visiting the casino became a night out. During the years, a casino visit became a whole different experience.
Security
Together with the expanding popularity of gambling, the money involved in casino gambling also expanded. Unfortunately, large sums of money, sometimes attracts large numbers of unreliable persons. These persons are after cheating the casino system or stealing from other casino visitors. This development raised the call for better casino security.
Nowadays casinos are all about security. Hundreds of cameras bring extra security to a gambling establishment. Every angle of a proper casino is constantly being watched by one or more cameras. Operators are constantly watching the camera footage. Most problems come from thieves, cheaters and card counters. On the casino floor there are also employees who look out for possible problems. Security is also the most important word of the online gambling industry, if the security level wasn't as high as it is these days, people wouldn't use their credit card to make an online deposit.
Antigua and Barabuda
The online gambling industry was founded in Antigua and Barbuda at the end of 1994. The small Caribbean island group consists of three small islands, Antigua, Barbuda and Redonda. Antiga was the first country on earth that approved a law which made it possible to release online gambling licences. These days, still lots of companies are located in Antiga. Antiga was the island where the history of online gambling begun.
Microgaming
Microgaming can be called a true pioneer in the history of online gambling. Long before the opening of the first online casino in 1995, Microgaming developed online gambling software which was revolutionary and used by hundreds of online casinos who opened their doors after 1995. The first online casino ever was Intercasino, founded in 1995 and still active in the online gambling industry.
Problems
Since the beginning of the online gambling industry there always have been problems concerning the legality of the industry. Especially the US was very concerned about the effects of online gambling on its citizens. The US always showed itself as a strong opponent of the online gambling industry. Glad fully, times change and the call for legal online gambling in the US is getting harder then ever before.
UIEGA
A black page in the history of online gambling is the day the UIEGA was approved in 2006. The UIEGA obliged the financial institutions to block online gambling related transactions. Since the introduction of the UIEGA till now, the financial institutions are complaining because it seems to be impossible to block gambling related transactions without also blocking regular consumer transactions. This means a big loss for the country’s E-commerce.
Billion industry
The online gambling industry developed itself as a billion industry. Even with the UIEGA and other legal bumps on the road, the industry never saw its revenue decreasing. The online gambling industry currently revenues almost $ 20 billion per year, in 2010 the worldwide online gambling revenue will pass the $ 25 billion. With a possible US online gambling legalization and regulation to come things even could be better.
After reading this new chapter of 'new to online gambling' the history of online gambling should be clear to you. In the coming weeks this article will be extended with more information about the history of online gambling!
