This infographic from RightCasino reveals how online gambling has evolved into a $35 billion annual market, in just 20 years!

It might be hard to believe but iGaming has been in existence since around 1994. That was the year when the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda passed laws enabling it to grant the world’s first online gambling license. Meanwhile, the first online gaming technology was created in another island nation, the British Crown Dependency of the Isle Of Man. That’s where, in 1994, Microgaming – still a significant force in the field – made available the computer programs that paved the way for the earliest online casinos.

Two years later, in the United States, the Kahnawake Gambling Commission was established. In the first instance, this Native American body was formed to regulate online gaming in the titular Mohawk territory. However, the KGC was also empowered to grant igaming licenses the world over. Although these significant developments took place in the mid-’90s, it wasn’t until the end of the decade that online gaming really took off. Indeed, by 1998, the sector’s annual revenues were estimated to be in the region of $830 million. With the earliest online poker rooms opening for the business in the same year, it wasn’t long before the $1 billion was eclipsed.

As of 2008, worldwide annual gaming revenue was estimated by H2 Gambling Capital to be in the region of $21 billion.

Read on, as we chart the history of online casinos from humble origins to its current level of sophistication, where social gambling, mobile accessibility and multi-million pound jackpots have become the industry standard.

We’ve certainly come on a long way from playing neon-green virtual blackjack on terminals the size of a shed.





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