Online casino games are raking in more and more profits and they are expected to bring more than 14 billion dollars in 2016. But the industry was way more humble in its conception back in the 1990’s. With only a handful of casino software developers available and a limited functionality, as well as constant legal disruptions from governments from all over the world, online casino games have had a rough start and needed quite a long period to get where they are today. Before we start our track through time, if you are interested in finding out about web casinos in Australia and reading up on the offer of online casinos, mobile casinos, as well as casino reviews, be sure to check this link.

It all began in 1994 – for the very first time in the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, a new law was passed that made it possible for obtaining of a license for the launching and operation of online casinos under the Free Trade & Processing Act. The very first software used for the pioneering online casinos was a little software company situated on the Island of Man called Microgaming. The software used to conduct the actual payment / withdrawal of funds and the security behind it was handled by software developed by Cryptologic (another big name in today’s online casino gaming business).

The online casino landscape back in 1994 was quite barren by today’s standards, but that was to be expected. Online casinos and online gambling in general were both in their embryo stage, and it wasn’t until 1996 that the first actual money wager was made.

There weren’t many type of games either–slots were the very first games to be successfully ported to the online offer, the 3 reel kind to be exact, and this was the first time an RNG software was also introduced through an algorithm to keep the games fair. The interface was kind of archaic and the graphics followed the very standard layout you could find in many Las Vegas slot machines. Still, the industry was picking up speed. More and more online casinos were opening and by 1997 there were more than 200 online casinos, and greater variety of software developers have emerged to offer games.

At this time slots were becoming really dominant on the casino market and the predominant offer was based around Microgaming’s own library. The casino software giant had begun experimentation with other casino games as well, in order to bring about even greater variety and appeal to its audience. First the video poker machines were ported, which resulted in a great interest for all poker players, seeing how online poker was still in its development stages. Microgaming managed to garner much appraisal from online fans and with increased internet speeds and better hardware to support more intricate graphics and animation, the casino games market was booming.

Microgaming on a smartphone.

In the 2000’s the online casino market truly flourished. Many new developers like Real Time Gaming, Rival software, NetEnt, and others have emerged and begun to add up to the existing library of games, sharing new themes and even ways to play the games.

Thanks to Flash, online casinos could now be played directly in the browser without the need to download the casino games. The game categories have expended to include new and better variations of classics, and progressive slots have become the number one fan favorite game type, raking in millions of dollars on a daily basis.

Today, the online casino industry is continuously expanding its gaming library on many different platforms. What had begun as a small scale project had turned into a worldwide phenomena, with games made specifically for mobile devices, with smartphone and tablet support, and there is even greater interest in finally making the skill-based games available to players.