The History of Online Gambling
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.
Online Gambling 2012
Online gambling inCanadaand its legality has its roots in the Canadian Criminal Code exemptions that have slowly been permitted over the past one-hundred-and-fifty years. Originally, gambling was not permitted, but over the years, permission has been granted first for charity gambling which ultimately led to lotteries being permitted. It was not until 1985 that the Canadian Criminal Code was amended to allow for the provinces to accept electronic gaming. This amendment was the clear path to what is now seen as modern online gambling inCanada. It was in 1994 that the first online gambling sites started to appear inCanada. The original online casinos were nothing more than just a few graphics and some very poor sound. In 1996 InterCasino really took online gambling in the right direction with the opening of their online casino. With modern graphics, quality sound and a verified system of random number generation, InterCasino became the pinnacle for online casino operations. It was also in 1996 that the Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established. The Commission, to this day, regulates the activity of online gambling from the Kahnawake territory of the Mowhawk people. This ruling body controls the licensing for gaming for online gambling companies throughout the world.
Changes for the US
A lot changed for online poker and online gambling in 2006 with the UIGEA. Established online poker and online gambling sites that had been in operation since 1999 had to leave their US operations because of this unclear law. In 2011, Full Tilt Poker and a few others were investigated and some eventually indicted regarding online gambling related crimes. However, it was also at the end of 2011 that the Department of Justice released a statement saying that online poker and online gambling is legal in each State, according to the laws of the State.