The Online Poker Gamble Pays Off
Gambling through poker has been around for decades, but has reached new heights with the introduction of online poker rooms. More and more online poker rooms are popping up with the driving force being poker addicts. With all this, it must be mentioned that sportsbooks pioneered online gambling… not poker!
The first known online casino was from Microgaming, this was introduced back in 1994… Microgaming is now a very popular gaming software developer.
Established in 1998, Planet Poker was the first mainstream online casino. However, over the years there have been bigger and better poker sites introduced into the industry.
The unreliability of Poker Spot’s system that was introduced in 1999 eventually resulted in its collapse afterwards. Basically, they couldn’t withdraw player funds from credit card suppliers and thus couldn’t pay anyone their winnings!
The first lucky millionaire from online gambling emerged in 2000, with the winner pocketing just over $1,500,000! It had to happen eventually with 700 online casinos recorder in 2001, and over 8 million people having gambled online at some point in time.
Not all casino companies went bust like Poker Spot. The Neteller e-cash system frees the player from using a wire transfer service or a credit card when depositing in an online poker room. Neteller’s system has also minimized fraud and boosted the credibility of the industry.
2001 was an important year for online casino gambling given the entry of the two industry giants, Party Poker and Poker Stars. Party Poker overtook Paradise in 2003 as the industry’s top player with its strategic advertising on television.
The world poker tour was also introduced through online poker rooms such as Full Tilt and part Poker. Through such events, people such as Chris Moneymaker have contributed to the success and popularity of online poker… Chris went from paying a $40 entry fee to winning the world poker series!
When Chris defeated 839 other online poker players to compete at the World Series of Poker, he walked away with $2.5 million dollars by winning that event too. Since then, poker is getting more and more popular by the day.
Mr Moneymaker’s inspiring Cinderella story attracted more beginners to learn online poker and the game expanded to new territories in 2004.
Sportingbet’s acquisition of Paradise Poker also opened new doors given the new owner’s status as a listed company. Online training sites offer easy to learn advise on how to play the game. Revenues of online casino gambling firms rocketed during the year, which also saw the entry of new players such as Full Tilt Poker and Noble Poker. Listing on the stock market has become an option for online casinos to raise funds for expansion.
In addition, the UK government’s recent passage of a bill that legalizes and regulates Internet gambling casinos indicates that online poker is close to becoming a global phenomenon.
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