To say simply that the history of online casinos starts with the first active online casino may be true, but it is a simple way of examining said history. After all, online casinos can trace their beginnings not only to the very first of their number, but also to real life, or “brick” casinos and the gambling games played in them. Aside from that, as online casinos are also computer games, they can also trace their beginnings to the first simulations of gambling games, and the first computer games as well. While it is possible to trace the history of online casinos by looking at the casinos and computer games that eventually lead to their creation, most people agree with starting at the event that allowed for and encouraged the creation of the first online casinos.


In 1994, Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean became the first nation to pass a law to legitimize online casinos. Called the Free Trade and Processing Act, it allowed organizations to secure licenses to operate online casinos. With the opportunity to develop and release online casinos, a number of software companies applied for licenses and began development of the first online casinos. One of these companies was Microgaming Software Systems Ltd, a software development company based in the Isle of Man. They are recognized to have released the first true online casino, though other companies followed in their wake. To say that this immediately started a boom would be somewhat misleading, however, though this did set the stage.


Other small nations and states did follow the lead of Antigua and Barbuda, allowing corporations to gain licenses to operate online casinos, and the number of licensed online gaming companies increased as well. The popularity of online gambling and online casinos slowly increased, leading to a boom between 1996 and 1998, where the number of online casinos multiplied tenfold. The year 1998 saw not only an increase in the number of online casinos and the accompanying increase in revenues from online gambling, but was also the year that online poker rooms were introduced as well, allowing players to play against each other for the first time in an online casino setup. With the introduction of multi-player online gambling, players could interact with each other within the online casino, which further increased its popularity.


Many countries began to be concerned with online gambling at this time, however, and in the United States the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act was introduced in 1999. While this bill did not receive support, it was a sign of of difficulties to come for online casinos. In 2001, Australia made it illegal for any online casinos to legally operate in Australia, unless they were already licensed and in operation prior to the new law. Despite this, however, they could not take bets from citizens of Australia.


Other countries would follow in the years to come. This did not stop the growth of online gambling, and online casinos, however. More and more online casinos became available, and worldwide gambling revenues from online gambling was estimated at over twenty billion in 2008, despite the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. While legislation has made it difficult for online casinos, there still exists a great demand for them. Because of this, online casinos will continue to operate, and people will continue to play and gamble in them.