Online Casinos: history, development and success

Did you know Wordpress has a suite of spreadsheets to help you create your own online casino? Seems quite easy! But this industry hasn’t always been so common and famous...

Due to the plethora of online casinos nowadays, gamblers are more demanding than ever, pushing betting platforms and software developers to continuously improve design, quality and technology to always have the best games in their portfolios and engage customers 24/7.

But when did all this start?

The first online casino is quite recent, only a couple of decades, although we can find its basis back in the 70’s.

The history of Online Casinos

The origin of online casinos was the creation of the first gaming software around the 70’s. This allowed games in physical casinos to interconnect through cables. Then, with the democratisation of computers and the boom of the Internet in the 90’s, the first-ever online casino appeared. It was in 1996, two years after the country of Antigua and Barbuda regulated online gambling, signing a Free Trade and Processing Act that allowed this new type of casinos. The document also established the way to give official licenses and controlled the new form of betting.

Ten years later, the United States Senate passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

From this time on, other regulations, publicity and technology developments made the industry grow really fast, going from a market size of U.S.D. 7.4 billions in 2003 to U.S.D. 41.4 billion in 2015.

Size of the online gambling market from 2003 to 2015 (in billion U.S. dollars):

Development and advantages

The online betting industry has been increasing during the last few years, due to several factors.

The development of technology makes online games increasingly entertaining, with realistic interfaces and impressive sound and visual FX, among others.

There is even a 100% artificial intelligence-built online casino!

A huge milestone in the technology sector was the appearance of smartphones and tablets with the following adaptation that online casinos needed to make to fit with this new reality. The mobile-first motto became a must when designing and developing online casinos and games.

Another factor which contributed to the development of online casinos and its increasing fame was the legal and security framework. In contrast to the beginning of the industry, nowadays we have a very well defined legality and powerful security systems such as Blockchain that contribute to the gamblers trust.

Also, the budget spent on advertising by the online casino companies has increased a lot, which also helped industry growth as more people know about online casinos and want to try them.

Of course, the strongest characteristic of online casinos seems to be the full availability and the comfort of being able to play 24/7 from wherever you may be.

Even from your couch at home…

But there are also many other advantages, such as the possibility of paying with cryptocurrency, bigger prizes compared to physical casinos, welcome bonuses, wider suite of games, and so on.

As long as technology keeps on developing and contributing to security, legacy and quality, it seems pretty sure that online casinos will continue to grow and improve, offering amazing games and prizes to customers all over the world.

A whole immersive experience without the need of leaving home!