Online Casino Reviews & Online Casino Ratings

Today, no one will be surprised by online casinos, where thousands of entertainment represent the user's attention for every taste. Gambling has become more accessible than ever before. To spin the reels of your favorite machine or play a game of poker, you no longer need to wear your best suit, drive across town, or spend crazy money on drinks at the casino bar. All this is available from home or any place with the Internet. A couple of decades ago, I could not have dreamed of such a. Gambling went a long way before it became modern.

📜 The History of Gambling

Modern researchers often find cave paintings that may indicate humanity’s fascination with gambling since its inception. The 5,000-year-old dice found by archaeologists during excavations of Sumerian cities (modern Iraq) are considered more tangible evidence. The Sumerians used them in the third millennium B.C. Modern hexagonal bones, on the sides of which are engraved from 1 to 6 points, were invented in 1400 B.C.

Dice were also mentioned in the famous epics of ancient India (Rigveda and Mahabharata). Later not shy of cubes, ancient Greeks (about them wrote Plutarch), Romans (they were very fond of emperors Claudius and August), and Germans.

Opinions on where the first playing cards that are so popular in online casinos today differ. Some experts claim that they first appeared in the 9th century in China, while others believe that their homeland is India. Chinese paper cards were more like domino cards and Indian chess cards (the cards were round, and the deck included 96 sheets). In Europe, the first mention of card games dates back to the 14th century (when the game was invented here called Tarok).

The 15th century in Europe was marked by the advent of engraving, after which masters began to make amazing maps. They were originally used for reading and reading in Germany and Spain, but then maps became widely used for games. Many cheaters appeared, as a result of which first published a treatise on cheating tricks in 1494, and in 1541 issued a law in England persecuting the owners of brothels for gambling. It is obvious that at that time, it was much harder to win than in modern online casinos.

The first prototype of roulette appeared in 1765. The inventor was the French policeman de Sartine. There is another version - the author is believed to be a mathematician from France, Blaise Pascal.

🎰 Casino appearance

The history of the first game house is unknown; there are references to such institutions before our era - in China, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. The first European casino accepted Ridotto. It opened in Venice back in 1638 and is located in a gambling house in the church of Moses. Visitors to Ridotto were only aristocrats, there was a dress code, and the size of bets was not available for «ordinary» citizens. This happened in Venice in 1638 and was called the casino Il Ridotto. Then the concept of «casino» (from the Italian «casa» or «house»). The fact that previously gambling was held in ordinary homes, and in parallel, as entertainment offered dancing, booze, and music. Ridotto was created to offer the Venetian nobility gambling during the Europe-famous Venetian carnival. Ridotto was very advantageous for Venice, as it contributed to the treasury's huge taxes.

Although legal casinos were then almost non-existent due to high taxes, gambling became a big problem in Italy. The stumbling block became a dislike of the church and a similar pastime. As a result, legislative prohibitions on gambling began to appear. This led to the closure of Ridotto in 1774 (it was not reopened until 1946).

Although the church has been active in declaring the sinful nature of gambling, and the authorities have issued bans on gambling, casinos have begun to appear not only in Italy. Just a year later, in 1765, such establishments became popular in France. The first in this country casino opened in Paris. It was opened under the patronage of Cardinal Mazarin, who planned to replenish the treasury with taxes on games. In this casino, huge popularity gained a new, previously unknown game - roulette.

The popularity of gambling among the aristocracy flourished in 17th-century France under Louis. Other European royal courts gradually took over. Gambling became a favorite pastime of the nobility and, in the second half of the 18th century and bourgeoisie.

In the 18th century, casinos began to appear in most of Europe, and their popularity peaked in the 19th century. The level of luxury, comfort, quality of service, and safety has grown constantly. Although gambling establishments were in high demand among wealthy people (unlike modern online casinos, they were only available to the nobles), most were forced to close by the end of the century. This was due to new laws restricting gambling. The exception where casinos continued to operate remained Monte Carlo (Principality of Monaco), where there were no such restrictions.

📄 How Slots Came Into Play

Slots at the beginning of their appearance were similar to the modern-only principle of the game - the collection of different combinations of images to receive prizes. The first slot was invented by Charles Faye (United Kingdom) in 1887. Four years later, the world’s first Sittman and Pitt slot machine appeared. In 1894, the famous «one-armed bandits» also came up with Faye. He presented 1898 a slot equipped with automatic payouts. «Fruit» models appeared in 1912.

The electromechanical model of the slot had to wait half a century - in 1964, it became the Money Honey machine. Another 30 years passed before the advent of slots on the Internet - it happened in 1994.

📃 Background of Online Casinos

The advent of virtual casinos is related to 3 different factors. The first is the continuous development of the gambling industry. With the advent of electromechanical slot machines in fixed casinos in the 1970s, innovative software began to replace them. In new cars, all results were calculated at the program level. In fact, they were small computers capable of only a few tasks. Over time, graphics were improved, and software for card games (the first being blackjack) appeared.

The second factor is the invention of a mechanism for connecting these game computers to servers and using remotely stored applications. The solution was the Internet. In the 1990s, it became an accessible communication tool. Game software developers could not pass by such a promising network.

The third reason is the new laws. In 1994, Antigua and Barbuda, a tiny Caribbean country, passed a law making online casinos and online gambling legal, subject to licensing. So the gambling industry started a winning march on the Internet.

The first to connect in 1994, all of the above managed by British company Microgaming, considered a pioneer in the development of software for online gambling. But its software had one drawback, critical to the possibility of online casinos. It is about securing financial transactions on the Internet. The solution was provided in 1995 by Irish Cryptologic, which created software for network security. This was the prerequisite for the introduction of systems for electronic payments. And in 1996, the first casino on the Internet network - became InterCasino.

📑 Online casino appearance

Stationary casinos continued to operate successfully until the late 20th century, mostly concentrating on the world’s gambling centers - Monte Carlo, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Macau. In most countries, there were few or no gambling establishments.

As mentioned above, the first online casino appeared in 1995. After that, thanks to the rapid and ubiquitous spread of the Internet and the advent of increasingly sophisticated games, entertainment establishments on the Web began to appear in dozens. The year 1998 was marked by the appearance of poker rooms on the Network.

In view of the High demand for online gambling, new software developers for virtual gambling began to appear massively. If in 1996 there were already fifteen, in 1997 - two hundred.

Casino providers have gained a number of significant advantages thanks to the Internet. First, moving their businesses online has brought them significant cost savings. There is no need to pay large salaries, rent, or a number of taxes (even existing taxes on gambling online are lower).

The second plus for owners - is access to the entertainment players have around the clock. Players can play anytime from any country. In addition, it was possible to significantly increase the range. It doesn’t take a lot of space to install thousands of slot machines - everything is available on one site to an unlimited number of users simultaneously. Therefore, large online casinos provide a variety of gambling activities.

Due to the growing popularity of online casinos, the providers decided to further spur the interest of players by introducing the concept of the progressive jackpot. It is a large-sum draw when playing on certain slot models. The prize pool is formed by deducting a percentage of each bet made on this slot.

Modern online casinos have provided a great variety of gambling games, among which there are not only copies of entertainment «ordinary» gambling establishments but also a lot of unique developments. Entertainment is available to all tastes, from thousands of types of slots to all kinds of roulettes and card games.

Today, there are tens of thousands of online casinos, and the online gambling market is estimated at approximately $90 billion.

📰 Modern Internet Casino Facilities

The institutions are constantly improving to improve the quality of customer service. To facilitate access to entertainment, downloadable mobile apps and mobile versions are developed and launched in smartphone browsers. This brought the availability of games to a new level, as users were able to launch their favorite slots at any convenient time from anywhere.

The next convenient innovation was artificial intelligence. It is about chat-bots, which are increasingly used for faster service to visitors of establishments. Modern bots are able to solve two-thirds of clients' issues without the help of on-duty customer service consultants. It should be noted that this service is available in different languages.

Several online casinos began offering support for cryptocurrency. This has become a good bonus for customers who want to play and conduct financial transactions incognito. All operations are carried out completely anonymously, maximally protected from intruders, and carried out quickly.

To ensure the effect of presence in a real casino, invented entertainment such as live games. Here users are invited to play not against the soulless program but against the real dealer. Most of the live action is roulette and card games, which are held in specially equipped studios, where all the actions of the dealer are visible via live webcast.

The introduction of virtual reality technology into online casinos is expected soon. This will further improve the presence and interest in the game. The industry is constantly working to improve gambling for gamblers.