Online gambling is any type of betting conducted via the internet. This includes casinos, online poker and even sports betting. The first online gambling site opened to the public, was online ticketing for the first world cup in July 1994. Gambling has been present on the internet since its inception, but it wasn’t until recently that it really began to grow and develop into a popular form of entertainment and recreation.
The evolution of online gambling started in South Africa when the Golden Triangle Report was released. This report highlighted the negative impact of sikkim (illegally sanctioned gambling) and encouraged the development of a regulated online gambling environment. As well as this, the advent of online gambling software such as Poker Face attracted a number of companies to the industry. Together these companies formed the Association of Internet Gaming, now known as the World Wide Web Casino Association.
Initially online gambling was concentrated on one particular type of gambling namely online sports betting. It was not long before other types of online gambling companies began to develop. A number of countries soon followed suit and now there are online gambling platforms available for all kinds of betting including horse racing, lotto, bingo and the slots. These are just a few of the online gambling websites that have grown substantially in popularity over the last few years. Other countries have also taken up the offer of online gambling in order to raise funds for public or charitable organizations or even to generate extra revenue for their own government.
The internet is now the world’s largest global marketplace and offers the best opportunities for online gambling. Betting sites such as Ladbrokes offer hundreds of different bet types from a wide range of countries and sporting events. There are also sites which allow you to place sports betting transactions directly with Ladbrokes whereby they do not even have a physical presence. These companies however, still have the majority share of the online gambling market and control a large percentage of overall deposits.
Ladbrokes for example, operates their own online website which they call the Ladbrokes Poker Room. This site allows you to play poker against top online poker players and to make wagers to win cash or prizes. In addition to this the company also offers its members the opportunity to play one of the many games that can be played through the Ladbrokes website, these games include Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Stud Poker, Slots and Online Slots.
Another company which offers online gambling facilities is Betfair. Betfair offers its members the chance to wager a variety of UK and international currencies against each other. You will be able to find a number of different sports book websites which operate betting links from this site. The Betfair site also offers its members the opportunity to place bets on a number of different games including Online Slots, Horse Racing, Motor Sports, Weather and Racing and Pool Gambling.