Online Casino Gambling Facts
Online gambling has been actively developing around the world over the past 2 decades. Despite the fact that most states in the USA still do not have legal gambling markets, online casinos are already operating legally in some of them, for example, in New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, and West Virginia. We are sure that you will be interested in learning important online casino facts to understand if you want to try your hand at gambling.
Top Interesting Facts About Online Casinos
There are many interesting and useful facts that relate not only to land-based gambling venues, but also to online casinos.
Only Online Gambling Industry in Some Countries
You probably know that many countries prohibit any kind of gambling. However, there are states whose laws do not prevent their residents from playing in online casinos. For example, you will not find land-based casinos in Islamic countries, but many of them allow their residents to visit online gambling sites. However, gambling is completely prohibited in the UAE.
Land-based gambling venues are completely prohibited in Tajikistan, while playing on offshore gambling websites does not directly violate the law and therefore is allowed.
In Thailand, most types of offline gambling are banned; however, online casinos still provide their services to its residents, although the gambling legislation is strict.
Another notable example is Brazil, where brick-and-mortar gambling venues were banned in 1946 and those laws have not yet been repealed. However, they do not contain any mention of online gambling, so they are not prohibited; many offshore sites take advantage of it.
Never Sleeping
Many countries have 24/7 casinos; customers sometimes do not notice how day turns into night, because there are usually no clocks in venues, and gaming halls are located away from windows and daylight.
However, land-based casinos are far from their online counterparts in terms of uninterrupted operation: absolutely all gambling sites operate 24/7.
The only exception is the support service and the live dealer section. Customer support in most online casinos also works without breaks and days off: gambling sites use the services of professional casino teams, or create their own customer support departments and organize work considering several shifts.
As for live dealers, the live streams take place in remote land-based studios thanks to the software from eminent companies like Evolution Gaming and Microgaming. Live croupiers have shift work, just like support operators.
As a result, the online casinos are the ones that really never sleep.
Number of Online Casinos & Mobile Gambling
According to a 2011 report by the American Gaming Association, about 3,000 online sites offered users some form of gambling. More than 10 years have passed since then, and the number of online casinos in the world and the United States in particular has undoubtedly increased significantly. The criteria that influenced the growth of online gambling are:
- Technology development. The 21st century is associated with a real techno boom, which is especially evident in the example of mobile technologies. Today, most of the inhabitants of the planet have a smartphone or a tablet, and these devices are successfully used for gambling on the Internet.
- Gambling development. The gambling market itself is also not far behind: almost every online casino has at least a mobile version of the site, and often there is a downloadable app for iOS and/or Android.
- Personal comfort. Online casinos are very convenient (available from anywhere and at any time, offer bonuses and loyalty programs, a large number of gambling titles, and a variety of payment methods), although they do not give the same emotions that customers can experience in land-based casinos.
The popularity of mobile online gambling can be clearly seen in the UK, where, according to a UKGC report for 2019, half of the online casino customers use portable devices to access them.
Gender & Age Statistics
Studies of the gambling audience are carried out regularly, especially in countries where this audience is really wide (the USA, China, Canada, etc.). Here are just some interesting data:
- According to the Journal of Industrial and Intelligent Information, men are more likely to gamble in China, more than a half of whom are under the age of 35. At the same time, 37% of players are men aged 36-50.
- Another online casino gambling fact: as of 2019, in Britain, 17% of women and 25% of men regularly played online (according to the UKGC data).
- In Canada, according to a study by the University of Lethbridge, 82.4% of online casino visitors are men. If we also consider land-based gambling venues, 6 out of 10 Canadian residents gamble. 70% of gamblers are young people aged 18-39.
In the US, we find the 2021 National Council on Gambling research interesting. It was attended by 2,000 respondents, and a three-year period (2018-2021) was considered. According to the results of the study, the age group under 45 showed the highest percentage of growth in gambling involvement during the pandemic. Over the past 3 years, the greatest increase in interest in online gambling was observed among players aged 18-24, 35-44, and 45-54, with a predominance of male users.
First Online Casino Appearance & Launch
It is generally accepted that the first online casino software was developed by Microgaming in 1994. However, it was not until the following year that important technologies such as the player tracking system and casino management tools were launched.
The Gaming Club was founded in 1994, as it was indicated on the casino website; however, judging by the information from Microgaming itself, the launch took place only in 1998 “in cooperation with Microgaming software”.
Another company claiming to be the developer of the first online casino is Cryptologic (formerly Inter.tain.net Inc). In July 1996, the company announced that the InterCasino they developed allowed customers to log in from anywhere in the world and play for real money. Indeed, this project worked fully from the first day, offering not just online games, but also an integrated online payment system.
We also know about the casino.co.za site associated with The Gaming Club, which has been offering games from Microgaming since about 1996. The website was only available in South Africa, and payments were processed manually.
Artificial Intelligence All Over the World
Not only USA online casino facts, but also stories from other parts of the world can surprise and even amaze. Let’s start with the world of land-based gambling venues: the leading Chinese developer SenseTime recently announced the work on the first AI casino, which was planned to open in Singapore based on Resorts World Sentosa. And although the project has been shelved for now due to technical difficulties, its ambitions are impressive: SenseTime is planning to use special cameras to track suspicious players and robot croupiers instead of humans.
As for the online sphere and technologies that are already working effectively, we can consider chatbots that facilitate the support work, smart algorithms that track the customers’ actions and preferences, automatic systems that promote responsible gambling, etc.
Facts About Popular Casino Gambling Games
Of course, it is impossible not to think about popular games, talking about interesting gambling facts.
Greatest Slot Wins for Gamblers
Although many people are skeptical about the possibility of hitting the jackpot in slots, there are many exceptions. Below, we list the biggest wins in the history of online slots.
| Year | Casino | Slot Machine | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Napoleon Sports & Casino | Absolutely Mad: Mega Moolah | $23.6 millions |
| 2015 | Betway | Mega Moolah | $20.1 millions |
| 2013 | Paf | NetEnt Mega Fortune | $24 millions |
| 2011 | Betsson | Arabian Knights | $17.3 millions |
| 2016 | Yako Casino | Mega Moolah | $11.6 millions |
And that’s not all the big wins.
Roulette Game Is the Devil’s
Although this is not an online casino fact, it definitely deserves attention: many people have associated and continue to associate roulette with the devil.
This is due to two things:
- If you sum up all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from zero to 36), you get 666, the number of the Beast.
- According to legend, François Blanc, the developer of the single zero version, tried to negotiate the roulette secrets from the devil himself.
By the way, the first primitive roulette wheel is believed to have been designed by Blaise Pascal in the 17th century: it was the result of unsuccessful attempts to invent a “perpetual motion machine”.
Blackjack
There are not only interesting, but also very useful online casino gambling facts in the USA. Did you know that blackjack is considered the most profitable game of chance? The fairly simple rules, the ability to count cards, and the relatively low loss rate confirm this. However, remember that RNG exists, so your winning chances and the casino winning chances are equal, since card counting does not make sense.
Other Interesting Online Gambling Facts
In conclusion, we offer you some more interesting facts about online gambling:
- The first offline slots had a lever on the right side that made the reels spin. Thanks to this, the slots became known as “one-armed bandits”. However, this nickname does not make sense in online casinos, because you launch the reels by pressing the Start button.
- According to statistics, the average age of gambling sites customers is 35 years.
- Also, the average gambler is quite wealthy and technically skilled.
By the way, the biggest slot machine win in history went to an anonymous person who visited the Excalibur casino in Las Vegas in 2003 and bet only $100 to hit the Megabucks slot jackpot in the amount of $39.7 millions.
