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Internet Gambling History

The history of online gambling is not a long and mysterious one, although there have been a few scandals in its time. Rather, the history of online gambling is quite short (starting in the 1990's) and explosive. Internet betting has become a multi-billion dollar industry in a very short time - still continuing to grow in its fiscal rise. Online gambling happened so fast, that as it became a reality, the largest and most successful companies in the industry were just being formed - and scrambling to do so. The catalyst for this scramble happened in 1994, when the government of the Caribbean island, Antigua Barbuda, passed the law that enables online casinos to operate from their homeland to this day - the Free Trade and Processing Zone Act.

With the technological possibility of online gambling already in the air, this new law made it legal to license and operate online casinos from the Antigua Barbuda jurisdiction. Of those who saw this as the lucrative opportunity that it was - two brothers - Andrew and Mark Rivkin - formed the company Cryptologic, and began creating software solutions to safely handle financial transactions with unprecedented encryption designs. At the same time, both Microgaming and Starnet Communications were formed - all in the same year Antigua Barbuda passed its groundbreaking law.

Canada was home to many important internet gambling developments at this time, including the formation of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which was formed to regulate online casinos and to enforce gaming fairness standards. Starnet Communications was also based from Canada, but was still obliged to operate offshore accounts in funding their eCash bankroll. Boss Media is another newly organized company claiming its stake in the industry at the time. However, it is Microgaming and Cryptologic who lead the way in gaming technology, with Cryptologic creating the first fully operational gaming platform, equipped with eCash depositing capabilities and real money account management. Before the end of 1996, Cryptologic releases its very first software package under their subsidiary, WagerLogic. And by October of the same year, InterCasino (one of the very first online casinos) is in full operation on the Web.
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.)

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