The Online Poker Gamble Pays Off
- Filed under: Casinos
- Date: Aug 25,2009
Poker as a form of gambling has been in existence for nearly two centuries but has reached new heights with the arrival of its online version. Various online casino gambling sites have sprouted in the past few years driven mainly by the popularity of poker. However, online poker did not pioneer casino gambling online, as sportsbooks were the first to arrive in the Internet during the mid-90s.
One of the first online gambling casinos was from Microgaming, which arrived in 1994 and is now a 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.
There has been some controversy with online poker rooms, with Poker Spot being launched in 1999. They went bust not long after because they couldn’t withdraw player deposits from its credit card partners. This resulted that players failed to collect their winnings… and the rest is history as they say.
In 1999 there were around 700 online casinos, and a survey in 2001 resulted in a phenomenal 8 million people that had gambled online at some point in time. Then only a year later in 2002, the first online casino millionaire emerged from the masses. The lucky winner won just over $1,500,000 on May 2002.
Looking back at Poker Spot, it is good news for online poker players that new transaction methods have been introduced to add credibility to the industry. Neteller is a major player with their revolutionary e-cash system, where you transfer funds to Neteller, and then are free to transfer funds to and from the online casinos at will… making it nice and easy for you, whilst stamping out fraud in 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.
In addition, Party Poker introduced Party Poker Million and the World Poker Tour, which have become attractions across the US. The intriguing story of Chris Moneymaker also contributed to the popularity online poker gambling. Mr Moneymaker paid a $40 fee to enter a satellite poker contest of Poker Stars.
His victory in the small tournament gave him a spot on the World Series of Poker. Mr Moneymaker defeated 839 other online poker contestants and won the top prize of $2.5 million. That year’s World Series of Poker tournament is still believed to be as the biggest ever staged in its short history.
Poker and these sorts of Cinderella stories are only increasing the popularity of the game, with a new player wanting the same fame and glory found through poker.
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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