How The Online Gambling Industry Has Grown Over Time

Posted on July 21, 2019 by John Harris

Online gambling is one of the people’s favorite pastimes. Whether you live in The United States, Canada, Australia, or anywhere else in the world, people enjoy gambling real money over the Internet. Whether you’re betting on your favorite sports team, playing an online casino table game or online slots, the opportunities are endless. However, before the Internet existed, people had to play games at land casinos or play their games at an underground casino. Also, folks that bet on sports had to go to a physical casino in Nevada or use the services or a local bookie. Now, you can pick your mobile Smartphone or tablet up and gamble on the go. However, it was not always so easy.

Online Gambling In The Early Days Of The Internet

The Internet started to get popular In the 1990s. It didn’t take long before people and companies started to launch online casinos. However, back then the desktop computers were so slow you literally were using a dial-up modem. Remember, the days when AOL was your preferred Internet browser? Well, maybe you are too young :). Back in the 1990’s and early 2000’s people had to interact with their online casino or sports betting site using their desktop computer. Most of the time, you had a choice to download the software to your desktop and play the games from there. In other cases, you could play the real money casino games instantly in your Internet browser.

The Blackberry Smartphone Helps Mobile Gambling

In the 1990s and early 2000’s the desktop and laptop computers people had access to did not store much memory and didn’t have much ram. Over time, laptop computers became more popular. Eventually, online casinos start to launch mobile applications to work with the Blackberry Smartphone. Back in the mid-2000s, the blackberry Smartphone was the most state of the art Smartphone. All you had to do was log in to your online casino account, and you could play real money casino games on the go. However, the games were prolonged to load, and there was no downloadable version (there was no mobile application).

Better Games With Higher Quality Graphics

The online gambling market continued to evolve more and more software providers developing newer games with better graphics. Even now, we still see more and more games with additional new features we have never seen before. Technology has changed the way people gamble online and will continue to change it (for better or for worse).

The United States Of America And The United Kingdom

While online gambling sites were widespread over the Internet, governments like The United States Of America and The United Kingdom started to intervene. For example, The United States Of America passes a law in 2006 called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, otherwise known as the UIGEA. Ultimately, the UIGEA doesn’t have an effect on the online gambling sites until Black Friday in 2011. This is when the United States Of America’s government takes action and removes real money casinos and poker rooms from the Internet. With this law in place, many people found the language in the legislation to be vague. Therefore, more gamblers and real money casino operators start to come out of the woodworks.

Mobile Gambling Is A Force To Be Reckoned With

By this time, mobile gambling was already a force to be reckoned with. While there were no state-of-the-art mobile apps for gaming yet, the gamblers and the real money casino operators saw the future of Internet gambling. With the help of software providers, online casinos start launching newer and better games that work on mobile Smartphones and tablets. In addition to that, online casinos start to develop mobile applications you can download in The Google Play Store Or The Apple Store.

By 2015, more than fifty percent of the people that gambled online used their mobile Smartphone or their tablet to play real money casino games or bet sports. Also, in The United States Of America, it appeared that individual states pass legislation that seems to make real money gambling legal in different states. After that, big online gambling companies and software developers start to come into the United States gambling market.

How Live Casino Technology Advances The Online Gambling Industry

It doesn’t take long for the online casino software developers to release live dealer games. These live dealer games allow people to play table games like blackjack, baccarat, craps, and roulette against an actual dealer. While most of these live casinos were hosted in a studio, there is one famous casino that offers live casino dealers from their casino floor!

When these live casino games were first launched, most of them were not compatible with mobile Smartphones and tablets. However, over time, more and more software developers start to make their live casino games work with the most popular Smartphones and tablets.