History of Online Gambling – How It All Began

Internet gambling is a relatively young entertainment industry. For a trade that’s been around for less than 30 years, it has had quite an eventful history.

Join us for a ride down the memory lane of the global phenomenon – online gambling.

When did Online Gambling Start?

Let’s answer the simplest question first. The first online casino turned up on the web in 1994. It seems that, from that point on, it evolved in ways that even the original creators could not imagine.

In 1994, what we today refer to as the “golden nineties” was at its peak. Legendary TV show Friends debuted on NBC and Steven Spielberg won an Oscar for Schindler’s List. Stay tuned for we will get back at the two events later on.

The art of in-person gambling stems from many centuries ago. Arguably people have always liked games and competing. Games like Hazard, dice game originating in medieval Europe, were immensely popular in the 13th century.

Then in the 17th century, there was Roly Poly, which some experts consider today’s Roulette predecessor. At the time, games took place in pubs, taverns and royal palaces, predominantly all over England and France.

But times haven’t always been kind to gambling. In the 15th century, the English parliament banned dice games. However, the tables have turned.

How Many Online Gambling Sites Are There?

Fast forward a couple of centuries later, as our everyday lives started taking place on the net, so did our hobbies. From opulent mansions and suburban inns, gambling transcended onto the virtual world.

Today, there are thousands of online gaming brands of all sorts, offering poker, lottery and slots services.

The exact number is hard to grasp, seeing that new online casinos turn up daily. In that ocean of miscellaneous online gaming establishments, there are a few that stand out. You can read thorough and unbiased reviews of these online casinos UK for players from the United Kingdom on high-class casino review websites. As the quantity grows, quality can vary, so sites like this one help players spot the best of the bunch.

What’s in Store?

From what we have seen, things are looking splendid for online gaming. The industry is flourishing and expanding, touching upon novelty with each day.

The whole thing started as a simple roll of dice, but the dice have become an omnipotent transformer, or so it seems. Today you can enjoy an ample diapason of table games, poker and slots.

Online slots have come so far, with software providers like Playtech and WMS launching branded video slots. May we have the spotlight on the above-mentioned Friends? The TV show has been embodied in an online slot.

So have myriad other celebrities and blockbusters. It is now almost commonplace to see famous faces like Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Monroe spinning on the reels. Even world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay is dipping his toes in the gambling waters.

Always a Step Ahead

Basically, any internet-based industry has to be radical and progressive. But iGaming, or eGaming, is objectively the absolute master of commerce. As we’ve said, it started from nothing, from the bottom and has become everything.

Branded slots are far from what online gaming is capable of.

It is live online gambling casino games that combine conventional and augmented reality into miraculous casino amalgamation. Live dealer games first showed up in the mid-2010s. Now in the 2020s, hundreds of live casino titles are available to players.

The industry veterans have taken it a step further. Thanks to dual tables, players from online casinos and those playing at land-based venues can bet on the same game, in real time. Real croupiers deal for all of them simultaneously in HD resolution hand-in-hand with cutting-edge sound systems.

Additionally, at the time of writing, virtual reality is the chief focus of all action on the market. A few years back, dominant names among developers had come up with first VR casino games. And while the games caught the eyes of a limited number of players, they didn’t quite stick.

So now we are living through a new wave of new VR games like NetEnt’s Gonzo’s Quest slot is coming to existence. Other similar virtual reality titles followed closely.

We might be a bit too optimistic and the idea might be a long shot, but VR seems to be the future of online gaming.