If one wishes to trace back the evolution of gambling, ancient China is where one will find signs of card games that were carved on tiles. Even in Egypt, one can find the oldest dice that was excavated. Here one can find scenes of Roman and Greek pottery; this indicates that betting was done on events like animal fighting, and often, animals were bred for such fights as well. Hence, the love of gambling in humans has been around for a long time.
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Public funds and game houses
Source: timesofcasino
Gambling houses had already started in China around 200 BC. These were permitted by the provincial governors as well, who received profit percentage as well as used winnings for funding state costs. It is little known that Yale and Harvard were initially started with funds generated from lottery money. These are in vogue even today. Even playing cards were first found in China, dating back to 900 BC. The kind of games was perhaps different from what is played today; their structure and decorations were also unique. Initial cards had human forms on them; the ones that appeared in Europe started with Queens and Kings on them.
With time casinos became regulated and more organized. The first casino houses were formed in 1700 BC in Italy. One of the first buildings of this kind was Ridotto, located in Venice, Italy, in the year 1638. It was one of the early instances of controlled gaming. Casinos then started to come up across Europe around the 1900 BC.
Among the different casino games that are reviewed by goodluckmate.com, roulette is one of the first instances that became popular among French settlers in the US. Even steamboats on Mississippi were gambling venues for the traders and farmers who were frequent travelers. Poker’s early versions are traced back to Persia in 1700 BC.
Mechanization and technology
Slowly casinos started to have mechanizations introduced, which helped in regulating winnings more accurately. The first machine invented was by Pitt and Sittman of New York, around the time when the famous Liberty Bell was invented by Charles Fey, a San Francisco inventor. Video slot, first of its kind, was invented around the seventies. This then paved the way for digital video slots.
The advent of online gambling
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1994 was the first year when licenses were granted for organizations to open up online casinos. This was as per the Free Trade and Processing Act. Online casinos, fully functional and, first of its kind, was software first introduced by Microgaming. This company is one of the pioneers in this field and continues to have a leading presence in this segment. It is known to have the largest chain of slot games and other software across different domains. One can also enjoy legitimate casino games of various kinds at realcasinoscanada.com.
Online casinos with safe, viable transaction methods were introduced in the year 1994. By 1996 the Kahnawake commission for gaming was established. It aimed to regulate the gaming activities of Mohawk territory in Kahnawake. It started by issuing gaming licenses for several online poker rooms and casinos. The attempts were put in place to make operations of the different licensed organizations to be transparent and fair. In the year 1999, another piece of legislation, a prohibition act for internet gambling, was formed. It intended to stop casino products being offered through online domains to US companies. However, this law was not successful and hence, multiplayer online software was introduced. You can experience this on many sites such as davecroupier.com.
An important landmark advancement was the introduction of live dealer technology. This first appeared in 2003 and was first introduced by Playtech. This introduced a hybrid akin to real-life casinos as found in the virtual world.
Technology advances showed up in the software as well. While 2D visuals and simple gameplay were what the earlier games offered, today there is a large array of 3D and high definition visual-based products. Features are also advanced in many such software products. Again, categories have expanded beyond the traditional card games, slots, poker to include sports betting and virtual sports as well. Many of these are new additions that attract the new generation of players. It has also helped bring in the audience with diverse interests.
Mobile Gambling
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Since the new millennium technological advances in this domain extended to mobile gaming as well. By then, the popularity of video games in mobiles was trending, and it was apparent that desktops were being less preferred as compared to handheld devices for playing games. Those who were frequent in online games of chance also showed that, a preference to try online gambling on their mobile devices. Many top sites started to design their websites to work on mobiles as well as started to introduce dedicated apps.
Several features emerged in this aspect:
- Players preferred the mobile devices for the convenience they offered
- Players could get access to betting options immediately
- Many social networks and gambling sites were on similar mobile platforms
- With better network connections streaming of the software became fast
Today most software providers in this segment design their products to be cross-platform compatible. These are designed using JavaScript and HTML technology, making them easy to stream and run online, whether one is playing them on Android or iOS devices.
Into the future
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This is a world that sees several advancements coming in through technology changes. Online and mobile gambling goes from strength to strength. Today the latest introductions are augmented and virtual reality; 3D technology has already made most of the software come with high definition visuals and gameplay. The live streaming of casino table games is another attraction that has many portals teeming with players. There is also the availability of cryptocurrencies, which make payment options wider for customers. There are fast and easy withdrawal and deposit options that also make these websites popular with a wider audience.
Conclusion
Today the world of online casinos has come a long way. Mobile gaming is the latest trend with all software designed to fit the smaller screens and be lightweight applications. Evolution in this segment has been diverse, both in terms of categories of products, entertainment software, and making the domains secure, safe, fair, and transparent for the customers.
