Today, the online casino and game world is among one of the most popular industries in the world, and has very much become a part of our modern era. From games available at the local casino to an endless multitude of apps for every smart device under the sun, it’s difficult to imagine a world where gambling was not prevalent in popular culture.

But the internet is a relatively new invention in the history of the world, and it’s only been in the last two decades that the casino industry has really taken off across the world thanks to the widespread nature of the world wide web. This is a look at the history of online gambling and how it came to dominate the industry in terms of popularity.

The Early 1990s

By the time that the 1990s had begun, the internet was very much in its infancy, and was only starting to see more widespread usage, but even this was just a small fraction compared to what it is today. Despite how young it was, it was apparent to many people and companies that it had the potential to turn into something that could change the world, and there were many that were quick to jump at the opportunity. This proved to be the beginning of the massive growth of technology that would eventually come to dominate much of what we know.

In 1994, the nation of Barbados and Antigua was the very first in the world to begin to regulate all online gambling activities, which allowed them to start selling licences to casinos around the world that were starting to test the waters of our new virtual space. These casinos were the first of their kind, adding new and exciting virtual games to the online world and changing the nature of the industry in every way conceivable, from poker halls to Australian sports betting.

The Later Half Of The Decade

1997 saw a massive increase in the amount of people using the internet, and thanks to operating systems like Windows, it was becoming easier to get online through the use of a desktop. Gambling websites were being added in droves, going from 15 in 1996 to well over 200 by the time that 1997 came to an end. Reports done a year later showed that revenue generated by the online gambling industry was already closing in on a billion dollars, and it was quickly apparent to many that this was the beginning of an entirely new era of the online casino world, one that would turn it into a true global force.

It wouldn’t take long for more services to be brought online, with one of the most important being real time poker halls that allowed players to interact and chat with each other, no matter where in the world they were situated. In 2006, the United States put an outright ban on all online gambling activities, which was a massive blow to the industry, but it has since rebounded in a big way in in other regions around the world.