By Anson Lee
The plush red carpet, the complimentary drinks (well, not really), the dapper-looking dealers, the thrill, the ADRENALINE yes, the adrenaline.
History of online betting
Gone are those days when one would make the trip to Vegas, Goa, or for that matter, Nepal to have a little bit of fun at staking. Online Casinos had come a long way since 1994, when the first online casino went live. However, the real crazy began after 1995 when CryptoLogic developed secure methods of carrying out financial transactions over the web. And in just three years, online casinos were making $800,000 plus in revenues. By 2001 8 million people were gambling online.
Fast forward 17 years, we are looking at a $52 Billion industry. Online gambling is a subset of the industry and offers a large assortment of games to try luck. And real money to win. Online casinos offer the adrenaline at the click of a button and all without the fear of cameras and spotters (that’s a relief if you can count cards). These casinos function similarly to any other casino in the real world. The dealer is a computerized program. And you play sitting from the comfort of your home either live or downloaded as an application. The games are a generally online version of table games like Black Jack, Malaysia Bet, Omaha, Roulette, baccarat, programmed random number generator in the tournament, and cash game structures. Even slot machines are a craze.
What’s makes online gambling more lucrative than the brick and mortar gambling is the privacy factor. The identity of the player is kept under wraps and anonymous at all times. A player starts with registering on the website and linking a bank account. It’s essentially similar to online shopping, where you are shopping for money using your luck and brains at a cost.
There are majorly two types of online gambling
Web-based and downloadable application based. A web-based casino is a website where the player does not have to download the software and can play online on the website, whereas download-based casinos require the player to download the application on you to a device where it primarily connects to the web to host live games. Connections to the web are necessary while staking real money. Real money here could mean virtual money in exchange for payment, cryptocurrency, or simple money. Depends on the format of the game being played. Portals offer most of the popular methods of transactions to generate interest. These websites often use many techniques to keep players hooked on to the games; various types of bonuses (sign up, no deposit, cashback, etc.) are a popular method among casino websites. It’s a business model, after all, and the dealer never loses.
Casino and gambling is a highly regulated industry encircled with strict government rules and regulations. But with the popularity of the internet, it has become really difficult for authorities to keep a check on all the casinos operating online, hence leading to more and more cases of fraud and cheating. One should do a background check before taking money on an online casino if one scans a table before sitting to bet on it.
