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A History Lesson: Online Gambling Gambling has been a pastime enjoyed by human civilisation for generations. Archaeological evidence suggests that even cave men were gamblers, after dice-like objects made from the bones of animals, dating back 40,000 years were found. In addition to the dice there is also evidence in the form of cave drawings. The Chinese invented gambling games using tiles and the early Grecians and Romans had a penchant for the dice. In the mid-1990s, the commercialisation of the Internet gave gambling establishments the opportunities to bring gambling to the masses. In 1994, the government of the Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade & Processing act allowing licences to be granted to companies that applied to open online casinos. The first online gambling software provider was also founded in 1994. Their name was Microgaming and they retain a good market share to this day. Due to the sheer size of the Internet it is quite difficult to predict with any accuracy the name of the first ever-online casino, but most experts believe it was either InterCasino or Microgaming’s The Gaming Club. In 1996, the Kahanawake Gaming Commission was also set up in Canada. The commission controls and regulates online gaming activity from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and distributes gaming licenses to many of the world’s online casinos. Despite slower bandwidth speeds and server problems, online gambling became an instant hit, with business research firm Frost & Sullivan reporting that the industry generated $834.5 million in revenue in 1998 alone. This article was written by Alex, who loves trying out new casino games. She's recently been attempting to play roulette online and poker. |
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Responsible Gambling | Disclaimer | No under 18's |