Gambling has a very special charm, young and old are fascinated by it. You feel a bit like James Bond, even playing online poker from home. In principle it’s about entertainment and fun, although there are of course some players, especially the stars from Hollywood, who risk a lot with huge stakes. The gross normal consumer, however, plays differently or with different amounts. Nevertheless, society has a rather negative reputation. Why this is so and where this perception comes from is explained in the following article. In addition, there are a few tips on what to look for when looking for a good online casino.

 

The long history of gambling

If you want to play games of chance nowadays and go on a search, you will find mainly online casinos. But what was it like before the Internet? Before there were online casinos, players were forced to leave their homes and go to real casinos. They’re still there, by the way. And these casinos have a long history, one can almost speak of a kind of tradition. The Romans and other ancient cultures already knew fun and games, even though gladiator fights were not entertaining for all participants. There is even evidence that people played gambling 3000 years before Christ’s birth. From this time there are documents from China and India, which describe the rules of different games and there are even dice made of ivory from this time. According to documents, the first casinos, i.e. a collection of several games of chance in one house, were built around 1630.

 

The success story of casinos

With the opening of a casino it did not take long until the second and third opened the doors. The principle is simple and simply ingenious. It offers people the opportunity for balance, a lot of entertainment and the chance to get in touch with other people. For the customers there was food, drink and games. At the beginning of the casinos there were mainly card and dice games. With time and the progress of technology, slot machines also came into the repertoire. The first playhouses were more or less overrun. Business has been booming since day one, but not everyone liked it.

 

The casino and its critics

Especially the church did not like the new entertainment wasteland. They called casinos a place of shame and sin. Today one would say that this is their opinion and well so, but at that time church and state were not necessarily two separate instances. Many kings and heads of state of the past were in direct contact with the church. So it wasn’t long before the first bans and prosecutions of casinos and their players came up. Then gambling no longer took place in public, but behind closed doors. That’s one reason for the bad reputation of gambling.

 

The new players on the field

After gambling came into disrepute as a sin and was driven into the corner of crime, this site gratefully accepted the offer. It didn’t take long for organized crime to recognize its opportunities and to get fully involved in the business. Thus the business became less controllable with gambling, was further criminalized and came more and more into disrepute. At the end of the 20th century, the American Mafia brought this development to its peak. It controlled a large part of the casinos and was the organizer of all kinds of sports bets. Again, gambling and its players were criminalized. This once again brought the reputation of the game and its participants into disrepute in society.

 

Control and regulation of the market

Like many other things, a ban is rarely the right thing to do. This was followed by a major campaign to regain control. Sports betting was controlled by the state and new laws were passed. In Europe, the Gaming Act forms the basis. Thus the providers of gambling were no longer henchmen of the mafia or other criminal gangs, but normal employees. There were a lot of controls and the safety of the players as well as the fairness of the game was taken care of. But even though the state did a lot to better regulate the market, it took a long time for the first people to change their mind about gambling. Even today, the reputation of crooks, money collectors and playful houses is still alive, even if this opinion is less and less held. Nevertheless, it is ironic that a large proportion of European like to play the lottery regularly and participate in other lotteries, but consider gambling to be too risky and not entirely legal.

 

Gambling on the Internet

The Internet created completely new possibilities and made many things easier. It’s the same with gambling, too. Especially for the cozy players who actually don’t like to leave the house to play poker, blackjack or roulette in casinos. Her wish to play online from home on the couch was fulfilled in 2011. Although online casinos existed before this year, they only became legal in Europe after a partial opening of the market. That brought some advantages, the gambling then became much better controllable. Customers log on to websites, deposit money into their user account and have been able to play, but it is no longer possible to gamble more money than there is in the account. In addition, licenses and control certificates issued by public and private inspection bodies indicate the security for customers. Of course, the state also took a share of the profits and introduced the betting tax of five percent in 2012.

 

The online casino

It goes without saying that it didn’t take long for a large market for online casinos to emerge in Europe. There are currently many hundreds of providers on the Internet. All of them have different advantages and disadvantages, comprehensive information can be found on sportwette.net. The selection is an individual matter. What an online casino has to show is a valid license, otherwise the offer would be illegal. The good thing is that the licenses, like the awards and certificates, are normally placed very visibly on the website. In addition, countless evaluations by Stiftung Warentest and the customers provide further information about the security of the platform, the range and the service.

Author

Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X