Online casinos, from 2010 onwards, started adding more variety for their players by adding games from multiple software providers, which meant that you could now find games from Microgaming, NetEnt, and IGT, all under one roof. Players could now find a wide range of games from more than ten leading online casino software providers. Notable land-based slot machine developers, such as IGT, started developing their products for the online market, and even more licensed game development studios also started producing games for online casinos.
However, most online casinos were still only powered by just one software provider. This meant that rather than waiting around for just one or two new games to arrive in an average month, players were now treated to 10 or more games per month. This all changed when even more independent studios started popping up, offering their own take on the classic casino table & card games and slots, as well as video poker games and instant win games. The original software providers, Microgaming, Playtech, and NetEnt, to name just three, had very little competition, to begin with. As the technology gradually evolved, so too did the quality of games that were being produced, the number of games that were being produced, and the number of payment methods that became available. In the early days, before web wallets (aka e-Wallets) and cryptocurrencies, players could only deposit into their online casino account using a Visa debit or credit card.
People could sign up to online casinos with very few verification checks, and players were limited with regard to the number of payment methods that were available. They had a very basic selection of games, and the games themselves were rather crude. The very first online casinos opened in the mid-1990s, and they were very different to how they look today. The dawn of the internet opened up many doors for big, small and niche industries around the world, and the casino/gambling industry was just one such example.
Here is a closer look at how online casinos began and how they have evolved over the past 25+ years. Some of these very first online casinos are still around today, and they have changed dramatically since those early days. The very first online casino launched back in 1995, and shortly after the world’s first casino site opened its doors, even more sites started popping up.