betting

The Industry Takes off Running
Thus begins the multi-million dollar industry (soon to become multi-billion). Shortly after Cryptologic and InterCasino start gaining revenue from online gambling, Boss Media AB begins operating their game server from Antigua and Barbuda. Starnet Systems International simultaneously begins granting licenses to casino operators with their customized software packages. In return, Starnet requires the casinos to pay them a portion of their earnings, which the software manufacturer presumably uses to finance its own online betting site, WorldGaming.net. And in their quest to be "the first", Microgaming releases the first progressive online slot machine, Cash Splash.
Over the next year, online gambling takes off, and by the end of 1998 produces an annual revenue of $835 million. U.S. players make up a large portion of this revenue, which begins to draw attention from U.S. lawmakers. It is at this time that the Republican senator from Arizona, John Kyl drafts his first of several bills to ban online gaming. Called the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, the bill intends to make the selling of betting related services and goods to U.S. citizens illegal. It does not pass, however, and on-line wagering continues to thrive. Within the same year, both boss Media and Starnet successfully implement their gaming licenses to independent online casino operators.
Canada begins its own crackdown on the industry by raiding Starnet offices located in Vancouver. Royal Police claim that Starnet's email server is based in Canada, resulting in an illegal extension of betting activities, which the Canadian Criminal Code does not allow. Starnet was later fined $100,000 for its involvement in online gambling. Riding on the wave of this opposition, Senator Kyl revises his Prohibition Act, which fails to pass in the U.S. congress once again. (The bill is revised a third time by Virginian Republican Bob Goodlatte, but fails to gather a two-thirds majority rule in the U.S. House of Representatives) In the meantime, Australia grants the first and only online casino license to Lasseters, which to this day is running strong on the Web. The license is issued by the Northern Territory Government, which other territory governments in Australia begin modeling their own online gambling legislation after. However, by the year 2000, the Federal Government of Australia puts into effect the Interactive Gambling Moratorium Act, which prohibits any online casino or sportsbook formed after May of 2000 to operate from Australian soil. Lasseters is the only online casino to this day operating from Australia. (The Australian government later successfully passes a bill that U.S. congressmen were trying to pass themselves. Although several allotments were made to facilitate sports betting and horse racing, the Australian legislation banned online casinos and sportsbooks from offering services to Australian citizens.)
At this time, it is reported there are approximately 700 online casinos in operation, processing real money wagers in several currencies. Microgaming, Cryptologic, Playtech and Boss Media make big waves just before the millennium approaches, with Boss Media receiving share quotes on the Stockholm Exchange and releasing the first multi-player gaming interface, enabling real-time chat between gamblers playing the same game. Microgaming hires the renowned Price Waterhouse Coopers to audit its gaming software, insuring standard and fair payout percentages in addition to releasing its second progressive jackpot game, LotsaLoot online slot machines. Shortly thereafter, Microgaming releases yet another three more progressive gambling games: Super Jax video poker, Wow Pot, and Fruit Fiesta online slot machines. Cryptologic goes public as well, gaining a spot on the Nasdaq National Market. In four years since its inception, Cryptologic reports approximately 680,000 patrons have used its software to make betting related financial transactions. By 2001, the estimated number of patron who have gambled online nears eight million.

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