Over the last fifteen years gambling has seen some major changes when it comes to the online world. You no longer have to venture out to find a place to bet, you can just log on to any of a number of sites from home at any time you like and you’ll find a site to being wagering.
Online licensing began back in 1994, when the Antigua-Barbuda Government passed the Free Trade and Processing Zone Act, allowing online casinos and sports book to operate. Software companies began to emerge and develop ever more sophisticated graphics to allow more and more realistic game play.
The next few years saw more software developers entering the market and significant development in the speed, graphics and functionality of software; InterCasino went live during 1996, with a claim that it was the first in history to accept real money wagers.
Chat and multi-player functions began to be included during 1999, giving players at the same game a chance to chat to each other and gave the world of online gambling sites a much more social feel. Many casinos now offer this as the importance of the social element was not underestimated and has added to the appeal of playing online. As many more adults become used to using computers for communication chat functions on any sites are now becoming an absolute requirement as opposed to an additional feature.
Legislation relating to the world of online gambling has constantly evolved in recent history, with very recent changes in the United States of America, where the Senate passed the Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006. These changes resulted in huge numbers of major players pulling out of the US market, however the British Parliament conducted a review to determine if the increased opportunity to bet had lead to increased numbers of players and found no significant correlation, and subsequently signed off on the Gambling Act.