The goal was to prohibit companies from offering online gambling to US players. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act is introduced in the United States in 1998. In 1998 the online gaming industry generated over $830 million in revenue and the first poker room was opened (Planet Poker).
By 1997, online casinos went from about a dozen in operation in 1996 to over 200. They were the first company to develop methods to make secure financial transactions over the internet.
InterCasino was the pioneer in the industry as they became the first online casino (they took the first real money wager in the business in 1996). Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade & Processing Act in 1994 which allowed companies to apply for licenses to operate online casinos. What Online Casinos Could Look Like in New YorkĪll forms of online gaming (poker, casinos, sports betting, etc.) can be traced back to 1994 and a little country in the Carribean.