History of Gambling: More than 2,000 Years
Evidence of gambling can be found dating all the way back to the Roman Empire, but its popularity as a modern day form of entertainment has been accelerated by the creation of the internet which removes physical barriers to allow millions of ardent gamblers to play without the need to leave their sofas.
Some records suggest relevant activity all the way back to 2300 BC in China. People seem to play rudimentary tile-based betting games. The World’s first casino was possibly inauguated in the Renaissance period. The first known casino, Ridotto, opened in 1638 in Venice. It had clear rules and regulations for gambling.
Online gambling (also known as iGaming in the US, or iGambling) is a gambling transaction conducted on the internet. It can mean online sports betting, online poker or casino games that pay real money.
Officially speaking, the first ever online gambling option open to general public was the ticketing for Liechtenstein International Lottery (October 1994).
There are countries that do not allow any form of online gambling. North Korea, Singapore, Lebanon, Poland, UAE, Qatar, Combodia, among others, do not allow internet gambling.
When Did Slot Machines Appear?
Meet Charles Fey. This San Francisco mechanic, invented the “Liberty Bell,” in the late 19th century. He can be easily considered the grandfather of modern online slots.
1990s
Internet gambling came to prominence in the mid-90s when Microgaming created the first online casino software. Their dominance of the marketplace continued for many years, breaking many records along the way including the ‘largest jackpot payout for an online slot machine’ when in 2015, a former soldier (John Heywood) won a whopping $16m on the progressive jackpot slot, Mega Moolah, from a bet of just 30c.
2000s
Hot on the heels of Microgaming’s early success, a Swedish start up by the name of NetEnt were determined to stake their claim in this now burgeoning and extremely lucrative industry. During its formative years, NetEnt made no significant impact on the iGaming industry until the 2012 launch of what has become one of the most successful online slot games of all time, Starburst, that they truly became a global player.
The success of Starburst propelled NetEnt onto creating an impressive catalog of games and a highly-praised live dealer casino, all of which would eventually be acquired by the even more successful Evolution Gaming.
2010s Expansion
As the online gambling industry matured, opportunities arose for independent studios to distribute their games through content aggregators (much like how songwriters deal with Universal or Sony) which inevitably created extra competition for the likes of Microgaming and NetEnt. These younger studios brought a fresh perspective with exciting game mechanics with unique themes that offered the online casino player more choices than ever before.
Live Dealer Casinos
Meanwhile, as technology and high speed broadband penetration improved, casino games and slots became more and more sophisticated – particularly with the birth of Live Dealer Casino where games such as roulette and blackjack can be played against a real dealer, streamed in HD from a studio that hosts hundreds of tables or straight from the gaming floor of iconic land-based casinos.
Along with NetEnt, Evolution Gaming were one of the earliest pioneers of the live dealer casino – starting out with a handful of classic roulette and blackjack games before planting their flag in the sand with non-stop releases of many innovative games including those based on popular TV game shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and the family favorite board game, MONOPOLY.
The largest and most costliest live casino production to date is Evolution’s Crazy Time where upwards of 40,000 players can be found playing at any one time.
Gambling In The United States
The US has always experienced a tumultuous relationship with online gambling while many other countries accepted that the earlier regulation is adopted and enforced, the more protected players will be. New Jersey and Delaware were the first states to legalize online casinos in America in 2013, followed by Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island. You can read more about each state below:
NJ Online Casinos
PA Online Casinos
Online Casino Real Money Michigan
WV Online Casinos
Social and Sweepstakes Casinos
As online casino legalization has lagged in different US states, sweepstakes casinos offering casino-style games for real money prize redemption have mushroomed in the US. In 2024, there are about 25 social casinos which offer all casino games with virtual coins called sweep coins and free gold coins.
Sweepstakes casinos claim to operate on the basis of sweepstakes promotional laws in different US states. The list of social casinos in the US continues to grow rapidly as real money iGaming is only availble in seven US states. Such virtual coin casinos are not available in some states including Michigan, Washington, Nevada, and Idaho. Some of the most popular sweeps casino names are Chumba, Pulsz, McLuck, Pulsz Bingo, Wow Vegas and High5.
This is online casino gaming that cannot be called official gambling although it offers the same video slots and table games. Internet casinos have truly evolved in the US and the rest of the world.
