Gambling Through The Ages
Gambling has been around for almost as long as civilization has. There is evidence that ancient cultures used die or bones to play games of chance as far back as the Stone Age. Through the ages, the gambling or gaming industry has blossomed into a multimillion dollar business.
Currently, gambling has become accessible to almost every person on the planet thanks to becoming Internet based. Players all over the world can connect and play various games using a number of different devices, as long as they have an Internet connection.
Early Beginnings
By the 1600’s, card games and other gambling pastimes were prevalent throughout Europe. The nobility especially enjoyed gaming houses as a way to relax and unwind. Blackjack and roulette can trace their histories back to this time, both of which evolved in French casinos such as the Monte Carlo. Ironically, the roulette wheel was known as the American Roulette Wheel even though it had not spread to the new world as yet.
From the middle ages, the history of gambling spreads throughout the globe. Colonists to the New World brought card games over with them, and many of the familiar games which we play today evolved on the open plains of the American continent.
The Birth Of The Pokie
Pokies or slots are one of the most popular casino games in recent history. They began as mechanized poker machines in the American west for gamblers who wanted to play poker without other players. Due to this, they developed the nickname pokies, which is still in use today. Originally the game involved a stand-alone contraption with three reels which were spun by pulling a lever to one side of the machine, hence their other name; the one armed bandit.
From there, pokies grew in leaps and bounds. We only have to follow the history of online gambling to see how they grew from basic video games to the 3D games which we know today.
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| 1 | | $1,600 NZD 730 Casino Online Games | | |
| 2 | | $1,000 NZD 728 Online Casino Games | | |
| 3 | | $350 NZD 725 Casino Games Online | | |
| 4 | | $750 NZD 720 Casino Games Online | | |
Casinos Go Mobile
The history of gambling takes an interesting turn with the advent of the internet. The first software developers to take notice of the new media platform released their first few beta games in 1994. Microgaming can take credit for the first games to be found online, and remain one of the biggest slot game developers today. Players today would most likely be rather disappointed with what was on offer back then as the games were very limited in regards to variation and graphics. Even so, the actual step of simply becoming available online was akin to inventing the wheel. The history of online casinos shows us that is the exponential growth of the industry continues, then we can expect some very exciting things in the near future.
Casinos Go Virtual
The next big step, which incidentally is already happening, is virtual casinos. These stand to bring this age gambling tradition into a whole brave new world, where one can actually enter the games which they are playing. Virtual, or VR, casinos and games will mostly follow one of two formats initially; either an actual virtual casino which players can walk around or a game which they can become a part of.
NetEnt and Microgaming are on the forefront of this ground-breaking move, each releasing their interpretations in 2018. With all his exciting development going on, the history of online gambling looks set to continue long into the future.