the first online casino

[rockycatt]

what was the name of the first ever online casino ,games provider, and were they accredited worthy and what date was it

and any remarks welcome

 

[ksb11]

what was the name of the first ever online casino ,games provider, and were they accredited worthy and what date was it

and any remarks welcome

I'm sure somebody here knows the answer to that question. Bryan perhaps. I would also like to know.

 

[anniemac]

According to my research 'The Gambling Club' was the first in Oct 1995. Intertops was the firt sportsbook in 1996.

Both of these are still in business, so I guess that says something or at least Intertops is. I don't know about The Gambling Club since it's MGS and not in my league anymore.

 

[rockycatt]

bump one time anyone got any first hand info

 

[ksb11]

Also RC, on the 'Casinomeister's picks' page, Bryan says, "iNet Bet is One of the oldest online casinos - well established - run by the same guys".

 

[chuchu59]

According to my research 'The Gambling Club' was the first in Oct 1995. Intertops was the firt sportsbook in 1996.

Both of these are still in business, so I guess that says something or at least Intertops is. I don't know about The Gambling Club since it's MGS and not in my league anymore.

Maybe it was the 'Gaming Club'. They tout themselves as being the first in the business and they are currently part of the Riverbelle group.

I started playing in 2001 when my losses at b&m casinos became unsustainable. There were some lousy software brands at that time. Other than seemingly being not totally random your bet is confiscated if server connection was lost and the game couldnt be completed.

 

[jetset]

I became involved early in 1997, and at that stage Riverbelle and The Gaming Club were active, if I recall correctly, and Gambling.com was the go-to information site. Software providers at that time had very small game suites compared to today, and of course the technology was pretty basic when compared with what players have at their disposal now.

Starnet casinos (founded by Vancouver strip club agents Ken Lelek and Lloyd Robinson) seemed to be everywhere within a few years - and like RTG today there were some bad apples in their barrel. Nevertheless, they did rather well with my records from 1998 showing revenues up and a share price that had soared from 38 cents to around $29. They came short when the Canadian police moved in just when they were about to go on to the Nasdaq in 1999 and are now no more, although I still occasionally find some of their domains being resurrected - obviously by others.

Microgaming and Cryptologic were also around - the latter had a particularly strong reputation for the sheer quality of its graphics and software, rather like Boss Media when it first appeared on the scene a little later.

Here's a few timelines I dug out of my database up to 2000 that may be of interest - I can't recall the origin:

1994
The Government of Antigua Barbuda passes The Free Trade and Processing Zone Act, 1994. Many online casinos and sports books today operate under licenses granted pursuant to this legislation. Antigua Barbuda continues to be one of the online gambling industries most popular licensing jurisdictions.

1994
Microgaming, one of the internet casino industry's first and largest software developers and suppliers, is founded.

1995
Brothers Andrew and Mark Rivkin found CryptoLogic, with the aim of developing a series of unique encrypted communication protocols to settle transactions securely, reliably and quickly.

1995
Starnet Communications, based in Vancouver, Canada, is established to develop, license and provide online gambling technology and websites, including online casinos and sportsbooks. To get around local legal barriers, offshore subsidiaries are established to carry out development, licensing and e-commerce functions for clients.

1996
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is established in Canada. Kahnawake Gaming Law is created with the express purpose of regulating Kahnawake licensed online gambling activities hosted within its jurisdiction.

1996
Boss Specialtidningar AB, Boss Media's parent company, begins to develop a system for casino operations on the Internet.

1996
Microgaming sells off existing casino operations and concentrates on developing of internet casino technologies.

1996
Cryptologic begins developing the first Ecash and gaming application, and completes its first generation of gaming software later in the year.

1996
CryptoLogic's wholly owned subsidiary, WagerLogic, completed its first license.

InterCasino goes online in October 1996, claiming to be the first internet casino to accept a real money wager online. (?)

1997
Boss Casinos system development work is transferred to Boss Media AB. The game server system is located in Antigua & Barbuda, in the West Indies, one of the few countries in the world willing to sanction Internet gaming operations at that time.

1997
Starnet Systems International Inc. is created as a subsidiary of Starnet Communications, to license turnkey, customised, Internet gaming systems to independent operators in exchange for a share of the licensees' revenues.

1997
Starnet launches WorldGaming.net, a proprietary website licensed in Antigua to accept, process and manage wagers via the Internet.

1997
PartyGaming is founded as a network of gambling sites offering casino games and operating in the Caribbean. The founders were Anurag Dikshit (software expert), husband and wife team Ruth Parasol and Russell DeLeon, and marketing whiz Vikrant Bhargava The incredible growth of the company, lead the shareholders to list the company on the London Stock Exchange in 2005, and the founders made hundreds of millions of dollars.

1998
Microgaming launches Cash Splash, the Internet's first progressive jackpot slot.

1998
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the most vociferous opponent of online gambling in the US Congress, introduces the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, designed to make it illegal for any company to offer an online gambling product to US citizens. The bill eventually fails to pass - the first in a long line of unsuccessful attempts that eventually ended with the UIGEA.

1998
Starnet Systems signs its first Internet gaming licensee, Atlantis Corp, operating out of Antigua Barbuda.

1998
Frost and Sullivan report that online gambling industry generated $834.5 million in revenue in 1998.

1998
Boss Media signs its first license agreement with an external customer.

1999
Royal Canadian Mounted Police raid Starnet Communication's Vancouver office for suspected participation in illegal gambling. While all gaming servers are located offshore, Canadian Authorities claim that the Starnet's e-mail server which is located in Canada, is an extension of gaming activities and therefore in violation of the Canadian Criminal Code.

1999
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), reintroduces a revised Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, designed to make it illegal for any company to offer an online gambling product to US citizens. The revised bill fails to pass.

1999
Microgaming starts an association with a big five auditing firm (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) to review and report on casino payout percentages.

1999
The first Australian Government licensed internet casino, Lasseter's, goes online. Lasseter's operates under license from the Northern Territory Government, which moved quickly to legislate for and offer licenses to online casinos. Meanwhile other Australian states move toward the release of their own online gambling legislation and licensing schemes, making Australia one of the most progressive in online gambling in the world. Sadly, this was all to change later.

1999
Boss Media´s shares are quoted on the OM Stockholm Exchange´s O-list.

1999
As at September 1999, Christian Capital Advisors estimated that there were approximately 700 casinos taking money bets over the Internet

1999
Boss Media takes the industry a major step ahead with the release of its new gaming software platform with multi-player functionality, allowing multiple players to play the same game at once, and chat to each other while at the virual gaming table.

2000
The Australian Federal Government passes its Interactive Gambling Moratorium Act, making it illegal for any Australian-based online casino or sports book operator not already licensed and operating prior to May 2000, from operating. Lasseters Online is the only Australian based Internet casino able to operate under the new legislation, which later led to a ban and the ultimate demise of Lasseter's online operations.

 

[Casinomeister]

Wow! Talk about a trip down memory lane. You should ask Max about their visit from the Starnet guys when he worked for Winneronline back in the day. It was a biker gang

As for accredited casinos that are still here - Casino Fantasy came on in 1998 along with Intercasino. In early 1999, the Riverbelle casino group (to include the Gaming Club) and the Sands of the Caribbean (which included Omni). For the first year, many of the casinos listed here had no affy program - and when they did, the going rate was 5% - Intercasino was 10%, so was the Sands (Omni).

My how things have changed.

 

[maxd]

You should ask Max about their visit from the Starnet guys when he worked for Winneronline back in the day. It was a biker gang

Yeah, and that particular day they were selling their new "high concept" casino ideas, porn-based S&M and junkie-themed casinos! I'm not joking. They had a "samples" binder of photo shoots that would've curled the hair on a bowling ball. Needless to say there were no hand-shakes at the end of that meeting.

Great post Jetset! One for the history books.

 

[dazlazz]

Great post Jetset!!!! Memories............

Cheers,

Daz

 

[baldidiot]

I wrote an article one this a while ago actually. Basically the gaming club was the first site to offer online casino games for real money although it wasn't called the gaming club back then (it was called casino.co.za - now an aff portal), you had to register and make deposits over the phone and it was also only available in south africa.

Intercasino popped up quickly after, and were the first fully operational online casino (eg: one that everything - registration, payments etc.. - could be done online) thanks to the ecash system, although MG caught up very quickly.

If it's allowed I'm happy to post a link to the full article if anyone's interested?

 

[maxd]

If it's allowed I'm happy to post a link to the full article if anyone's interested?

Do it! Sounds like a good read.

 

[baldidiot]

Do it! Sounds like a good read.

Here you go:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

 

[Christoff]

Great thread - I started playing in 98 at InterCasino. They broke the mould back then!

 

[TheGamblogger]

The old days

Interesting re-cap! Starnet is certainly the reason there is such an igaming talent pool in a remote outpost like here in Vancouver! Most of us still in the business have some early connection with them...

And, just for the record... It was Intertops that took the very first online wager. A Finnish player named Jukka Honkavaara placed a bet with them (which he won!) on English Premier League soccer on January 17 1996. Intertops launched one of the first Microgaming online casinos in 1998 (since switched to RTG) and their poker room went online in 2003.