Looking Back at the Beginning of Online Gambling

Online gambling is regarded as one of the most lucrative businesses in the Internet, raking in nearly billions of dollars in income annually. The industry has been through both good and rough times in its history.

It all began in 1994 in the tiny island of Antigua and Barbuda. It was the benchmark for the online gambling business as a law legalizing gambling over the Internet was passed. Now, online gambling companies who have secured their license can legally operate a virtual gambling business.

With this major development, Microgaming pioneered in distributing an online casino software even before the first online casino became fully operational. It resulted to a number of internet gambling sites coming into business. CryptoLogic provided the needed boost for secured online transactions. In 1995, InterCasino became the pioneer online casino.

InterCasino provided people with 18 various games as well as Internet connection to the National Indian Lottery. Since it became fully operational, the online gambling sites steadily increased its income. In the United States alone, figures rose to the billion dollar mark and online gambling is still expected to bring more profit in places where internet gambling is legal.

To provide gamblers a secured arena to play in, an organization called eCOGRA (eCommerce and online gaming regulation and assurance) was launched in 2003. The job of eCOGRA is to set the regulations, supervise, and provide certification standards of several sites which serves as the pioneer in the industry.

Everything went well initially for most online gambling sites, however, various attempts to block the continuous operation of the virtual gambling sites were already being initiated. A bill was already being initiated in the United States Congress seeking to make credit card and bank transactions to internet gambling firms from local residents unauthorized. It was a lethal blow to an otherwise upward direction for the online gambling industry. The 30th day of September in 2006, the Congress of the United States ratified a bill making payments through credit cards or banks to online gambling firms illegal. President George W. Bush signed it into law on October 13, 2006.

With the passing of the new law, the online gambling industry considers it as a major stumbling block considering that online gambling in the United States constitutes about fifty percent of the entire industry revenue. However, it is expected that internet gambling will be able to recover and get back on its feet.