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In 1997 and 1998, online gambling erupted, and the burgeoning industry’s estimated annual revenue rose to $835 million. North American players contributed a large portion of this, which began to draw the attention of U.S. and Canadian lawmakers. Several attempts were made to outlaw Internet gambling without success, although the Royal Police did raid the Vancouver offices of Starnet Communications, resulting in a $100,000 fine for “an illegal extension of betting activities, which the Canadian Criminal Code does not allow.”

By the close of 1999, the world was deeply divided over what to do about Internet gambling. While governments as diverse as South Africa, Argentina and Alderney embraced online gaming, along with the jobs and income it could produce, others sought outright prohibition. For example, the Australian Government made operations illegal for any Australia-based online casino or sportsbook firm not already licensed and operating prior to May 2000. This left Lasseters Online as the only Australian Internet casino to this day.

Read More >> A World Divided

Another early entrant to the field on online gambling was a company called Microgaming. It was founded in 1994 and introduced its own casino application from the Isle of Man, another location that created the regulatory infrastructure for legal wagering via the Internet. But in 1996, the company sold off all of its casino operations in order to concentrate on something less risky and potentially even more lucrative: creating Internet casino technologies.

Microgaming realised early on that the ability to offer gambling online was dependent upon the development of reliable software. Under the leadership of CEO Roger Raatgever, the privately owned company set out to become one of the world’s foremost providers of gaming software.

Today, Microgaming powers more than 120 online casinos, 40 poker rooms and numerous bingo sites, with over 400 games, in some 20 languages on land-based, mobile-based and online platforms. The company also manages the world’s largest Progressive Jackpot Network. Over the past decade, it has reportedly paid out some $280 million to 7,200+ winners, creating no fewer than13 millionaires.

Read More >> Technology Takes the Lead

In the 1990s, U.S. state and federal laws still prohibited wagering across state lines and through the country’s communications networks, including telephone, telegraph, telex and computer. Although a few “gaming websites” appeared briefly in the United States, none of them offered the opportunity to play for real money.

In 1994~1995, Warren B. Eugene, an enterprising 33-year-old Canadian, decided it was time to test a new “killer app.” He commissioned a team of programmers to design a full-service casino-software package and used it to launch Caribbean Casino. He incorporated its parent company, Internet Casinos, Inc. (ICI), in Nassau, the Bahamas, well outside U.S. or Canadian legal jurisdiction.

Read More >> Conceived in the Caribbean

The American Gaming Association has estimated that there are currently well over 2,000 web sites on the Internet devoted to online gambling. They offer a full variety of wagering options, from sports betting and casino games to poker, lotteries and bingo.

Another report has put annual online gambling revenues at $26.9 billion as of 2008. That is roughly four times the gross revenues of the entire Las Vegas Strip during the same year. Clearly, online gambling has come of age—a phenomenon that shows no sign of slowing down as it delivers the thrill of playing and winning directly to computer users worldwide.

Setting the Stage

Although the explosion of online gambling may seem rather recent, it has in fact been building up to this crescendo for about 100 years. Current gaming sites can quite literally trace their roots all the way back to the poolrooms of the late 19th century.

In those days, “runners” stationed at various race tracks would monitor horses, jockeys, turf conditions, and the weather. Before post time, they would dash to the nearest telegraph office and send their findings to a central clearing house. From there, the information was passed on via the “race wire” to pool halls far and wide, where off-track odds were set and bettors could place wagers when the numbers seemed right.

Read More >> Welcome to the World Wide Wager