The online casino industry has a short but breath-taking history. Since the first online casino accepted its first bet in 1995, the online casino industry has experienced growth rates that very few industries can match. Today players from all parts of the world and all parts of society play at online casinos. Online casinos allow players to play in the comfort of your own home instead of having to travel to a casino. There is no dress code, no hotel bills and you can play whenever you want. This appeals to a lot of people who will never set their feet in a normal casino as well as regular casino guests who experience the same thrill and excitement online as when they play at brick and mortar casinos.

Humans have always gambled for fun, excitement and to win. Dice and cards have been used for hundreds of years and betting on different types of races also has a long history. It is therefore not surprising that as the Internet has become faster, cheaper and accessible to more and more people, the number of online gamblers has rocketed. Humans have always gathered in the places where gambling was offered. Earlier it was likely to be at private gatherings. Later the brick and mortar casinos became the favourite place for gambling. Now that technology has made it possible, people gamble at online casinos in what can only be described as a booming development.

Some numbers can illustrate why I use the word boom to describe the development in the online casino industry. In 1998 the online gambling industry as a whole generated a turnover of just below $1 billion. By 2001 the number had increased to over $3 billion which again rose to $6 billion in 2003 and $8 billion in 2004. The 2006 amount was around $12 billion and the latest number from 2007 was a staggering $15 billion ($15.000.000.000). These numbers include all online gambling alternatives such as online casino gambling, poker, sports betting, bingo, lotteries etc. But nothing indicates that the growth pattern at online casinos has been different compared to online gambling as a whole.

Today there are more than 2.000 websites that offer some form of online gambling to players and according to the Christiansen Capital Advisors around 23.000.000 people took part in some form of gambling over the Internet in 2005. In some countries with England as an example around 10% of adults participate in online gambling every year and the number is on the rise. It is safe to say that online casino gambling has become a mainstream form of entertainment like going to see a movie or having a night out on the town.

All industry forecasts I have read predict that the online casino industry has yet to reach its peak. The amount of players is likely to rise along with the expansion of the internet, rises in income in the prospering parts of the World and because online casino gambling is getting more and more socially accepted. The amount of online casino gamblers is expected to increase further in the Western World. In countries like Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Canada it is likely that more players will find their way to online gaming sites in the future.

On top of that there is a large and yet to be explored growth potential for the industry. Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Brazil, China and India are all markets where more and more people gain access to the Internet these years and people in these countries all experience larger growths in income than people in the Western World. Many experts name Asia as the market with the biggest potential for growth for online casinos. This is because of the strong economic growth combined with gambling being part of the culture in many Asian countries.

One large question mark however is the United States of America and other countries that work actively to ban online gambling. In late 2006 the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in the United States which made it illegal for financial institutions operating in America to process money transfers from and to online gambling sites. The law does not make it illegal for Americans to gamble online, but it has made it more difficult for US players to deposit and especially withdraw from online casinos. With 1/3 or maybe as much as 1/2 of the worldwide online gambling revenue coming from the USA, the UIGEA is surely a setback for the industry.

It cannot be denied that many US players and potential US players have been scared away from online gaming sites by their governments crackdown money transfers and following the passing of the UIEGA many online casino have chosen not to accept American players. In the years to come the industry will continue to miss out on many players from the US due to the UIEGA, but this setback is unlikely to cause a decline when online casino gambling is viewed upon globally. It will however diminish the growth rate.