Today we are all familiar with online casinos, which have become an enormous business. But did you know that it has been nearly 30 years since the first online casino appeared? Microgaming is the company that is responsible for the creation of the first online casino. The man behind this idea and the execution of it is Martin Moshal, a University of Cape Town Business Science graduate. After reading this article we are sure you will become interested in online casinos, if you aren’t already, so you might want to check out the top selection of
The Money behind The Idea
Moshal, although a genius, could not fund the project himself, so he needed to find the proper investor to be able to move forward with the idea. Discover Bank Limited was his choice, there he was met by banker Roger Raatgever, a recent graduate himself. Martin was not able to secure the loan by himself due to his credit score not being high enough, but the young banker was intrigued and liked the idea.
Raatgaver decided to co-sign the loan and they were able to secure the funding. Raatgaver once said in an interview that he had very little knowledge about the sector, but to him, it seemed like a good idea and him being an adrenaline junkie he went for it.
The Title of First Online Casino
Intercasino and The Gaming Club are the two online casinos that are candidates for the title of being the first online casino. The Gaming Club launched in 1994, in South Africa. So you can say that is the first one that launched because Intercasino launched 2 years later in 1996. But the interesting thing which causes this dispute is that Intercasino offered online payments first and The Gaming Club used manual payments up until 1997. Intercasino could be called the first fully functioning online casino but nonetheless, The Gaming Club launched first.
Innovators of Online Gaming
While there might be a dispute about which is the first online casino, there is no doubt that Microgaming is the one responsible for it. The growth of online sports betting in the US coincided with the evolution of casino software. Sportsbooks started licensing Microgaming online casino games and they started offering games like blackjack and roulette.
But that was not the last boom the online casino industry faced. In 1998 CashSplash was introduced. It was the first progressive online jackpot slot, and it changed the way online casinos operated.
The Jackpot was linked through many casinos that hosted the same game, and the prize pool kept filling up more and more. It was the first time that the potential of online gaming was used. According to Microgaming, over 1.4 billion dollars has been paid out from progressive jackpots. It is safe to say that online casinos would not be what they are today without these innovations.
Still Kicking Strong
Some companies start slowing down after a few decades of business, but not Microgaming. It is now bigger than ever with a staff of over 200 employees and more than 850 casino games under its belt.
Microgaming continues to innovate and release more and more games every year. It still isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. With that many years behind it, you would assume that it would stop at some point, but Microgaming isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
An idea that started as the dream of a student grew to a billion-dollar business with its headquarters in the Isle of Man, and it keeps evolving and growing.
