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The term “Casino” comes from the
word Villa or a summerhouse which is actually an Italian house built for
pleasure not only for gambling but also for sports and other kinds of
pleasure. The first or one of the first casinos was built in Venice around
1638. Activity of gambling or the game of chance is found in almost every
society throughout the history, from the ancient Greeks though the
Elizabethan England. In America, the first casinos were called saloons where
travellers could have found other people to talk to, drink and gamble. During
the 20th century gambling was already banned by the government but in 1931
it was legalized in few states to become the first official casinos in
America.
The World Wide Web invention followed by the DOT NET
revolution in the late 90s allowed the online casinos to exist. Everything
that existed offline was being tried online including online casinos.
Although back then, online casinos were not that sophisticated it was the
starting point for one of the biggest industries in the world.
In 1994, Microgaming was founded after the passing of
the Free Trade and Processing Zone Act following by Cryptologic and other
online gambling platforms. In 1996 many online casinos were launched like
Inter casino and the Gaming Club. At first People were bit skeptics because
of the safety of financial transactions reasons and owners honesty. Over the
next few years the online casino industry flourished and more casino, sport
books and mainly poker rooms were launched. In 1998 Microgaming developed
the first progressive jackpot – Cash Splash. In 1999 Boss Media
revolutionized online gambling with the launch of their new multi-player
software, allowing multiple Players to play the same game at once and to
chat with each other at the game tables.
On July 2006 the US government arrested BetOnSports
CEO, David Caruthers after charged with tax evasion. In September, the US
Senate passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006 (UIGEA).
This Act was passed in response to 9/11 to prevent terrorist Organizations
from using online casinos to launder money. The following year, NETeller
pulls out of the US and loses approximately two-thirds of their business and
online casinos are forced to close or consolidate their operations due to
the loss of the US Players.
In 2008, Microgaming, pulled out of America. This left
Real Time Gaming (RTG) and Vegas Technology, formerly Odds On and now also
Top Game, to brand their products in the US market. |
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