The Evolution of Online Casinos in the US
During the early years of the 20th century, the US authorities were not on good terms with the legalization of gambling. At every legal meeting about gambling, new laws were attempted to be enforced to ban casinos from operating.
This awkward attitude of the government to casinos made it look like affiliation to the criminal activities. These notions went on and on until the 70s. Gambling got its way in the US in the 1970s, particularly in Las Vegas, Nevada. Some states in the US began to generate some revenue from the gambling industry through the implementation of rules and regulations.
Online Casinos –The Beginning/Growth
Since the legalization of gambling in the US, the number of states that support it has been increasing. Today, gambling is available in all the states of America except two –Hawaii and Utah. To date, these two states fully ban any form of gambling.
The innovation of the internet is one of the best things to ever happen on earth. Online gambling is one of the sectors that massively benefited from the internet. With the concept of virtual technology, the advent of online gambling opened doors of opportunities for players across the US. Some players residing in the states where casinos were illegalized could gamble online using VPN (Virtual Private Network) to hide their location.
The premier casino software was invented by Microgaming 27 years ago (1994). Although, it took another two years before the first wager happened on an online casino. By the end of 1996, over 13 gambling sites were available. In subsequent years, the revenue that the gambling industry was generating across the world was approaching a billion dollars. As of the year of creation, a site only offered a total of 18 games for stakes; you can imagine that compared to the variety of casino games available now. Initially, gambling sites operated on islands because of a ‘Free Trade and Processing Act’.
This act gave some Caribbean the liberty to operate online casinos. There were some inaccuracies about the appearance of the first gambling sites. Some were for Microgaming, others were against it.
Random fact: Microgaming is considered one of the best and reliable software providers in the gaming world today. Their amazing software supports a wide variety of games ranging from card games to table games.
For proper monitoring, a commission (Kahnawake Gaming Commission) was established. The purpose was for the regulation and licensing of online casinos. Within some years after creation, online casinos were flourishing. As we entered into the third millennium, online casinos were generating billions of dollars worldwide. The majority of the revenue generated was from the United States of America. This amazing growth continued every year. Gambling got to its peak in the year 2005.
Enforcement of UIGEA
Sadly, in 2006, the growth suddenly stopped in the US.
Why?
UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) was enforced. This act did not directly consider online gambling (including sports betting, horse betting, etc) as illegal; it hindered transactions between gambling sites and financial bodies. Due to this, international casino industries withdrew from the US market. Being one of the major sources of gambling, people expected a crash of all forms of online gambling in the US. However, online gambling didn’t die as expected. The law enforced by the act remained clear, online gambling wasn’t banned, specific financial transactions were.
This act led to a situation whereby online casinos accepted US players only based offshore. The financial transactions (both deposits and withdrawals) didn’t go the normal way like before the enforcement of UIGEA. Online money transfer companies like Neteller were no longer operating in the US. These casino players had other options of transactions that they used to make necessary payments. Some other players used credit cards.
Online Casinos –Technology Advancement
Regardless of all the political and legal hassles concerning online gambling, tech advancement didn’t halt. Technology becomes advanced every year. Mobile gaming came into existence. Now, mobile gaming is available on all sites. A large variety of the best casino games can now be accessed on mobiles regardless of the mode of the operating system. Mobile gaming is supported on Android devices, Apple devices, Microsoft devices, Pads, and tablets.
Another invention was the ability to gamble with a real-life player online. The games were in the form of competitions hosted by croupiers. Some casino games became popular from these competitions because they were held worldwide. Today, US gamblers are open to many casino sites with rich varieties of games. You can win millions from different games like slots, roulette, bingo, baccarat, blackjack, poker, etc. from the comfort of your home.
Since the legalization of casinos, it has not been a smooth run for an average US gambler. But the industry is rapidly growing with no intention of giving up. In the coming years, we are expecting nothing less than a bigger gambling industry.
