Chapter 2 - Who started the Online Casino Industry?

The 90s were an absolute blast for the online casino world, and much of the activity and trends that occurred then tend to mimic modern times.

Before we go into the pioneers, major events, the first regulatory bodies and companies and of the time, it's probably good for you to know the industry works.

How does iGaming work?

It's an ecosystem that unites three main parties:

• the Player.

• the Operator (Casino/Bookmaker).

• the Software Providers.

Who were the iGaming pioneers?

We saw last time that 1994 was the year of Microgaming and Cryptologic. Microgaming focused on providing the content and the player side experience. Cryptologic's specialization was financial security, payment processing and transaction encryption. This was dedicated to the online gambling sector alone.

In Canada, Starnet Communications had ambitions of its own and Sweden's BossMedia was setting the scene for what would be an incredible expansion. In the previous article we saw that Boss Media was a casino white-label solution provider. And so was Starnet.

The internet’s playground grew bigger. Intertops, Sports Book and Ladbrokes put up websites, offered toll-free numbers for phone wagers. They let gamblers check odds without ever leaving the house.

Many operations ran "fun" online games (a.k.a. bet without money). A precursor to the "free trial", if you will. But it wasn’t long before real money was in play. That same year, Liechtenstein had its first online bet.

In 1996 competition was heating up. The Gaming Club always promoted themselves at "the first online casino" but InterCasino was the actual first to do business. Born in Antigua and controlled by Cryptologic, InterCasino took the first real money bet in January 1996. It had 18 games and a partnership with the National Indian Lottery.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Eurobet began taking bets on UK sports and races. Eurobet is a particularly interesting case in iGaming History since there seem to be no exact public records as to who created the company. It is largely a record of mergers and acquisition. Centrebet launched their own online sportsbook in Australia, and it was quickly followed by others as news spread.

Finland’s National Lottery went digital, marking one of the first government sanctioned moves into online betting.

Meanwhile, Canada was quietly earning a place as one of the world’s gambling innovators. 

On June 10th 1996, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission was born. 

Microgaming released Cash Splash, the world’s first progressive slot. It was way ahead of its time, offering the possibility of huge jackpots no matter how small your screen was.

The Regulatory Gold Rush

Things started to get really interesting in 1996-1997, when various Caribbean islands and Central American countries began hosting online wagering sites. 

Costa Rica and Belize are go-to incorporation hubs to this day. Panama started then too. Netherlands Antilles, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Grenada, St. Kitts &... wait for it... Nevis - all hosted online wagering sites.

Yes, Nevis is all the rage right now, but it turns 30 in 2026.

Big Booms

1997 was the first time the industry experienced a big win: it grew from 15 worldwide websites to 200 by the end of the year. By end of 1998 it jumped from 200 to 700. Annual industry revenue peaked at ±$1 billion. US players made roughly one third of that.

Data about bingo is conflicting. Some sources mention the first real money bingo site was launched in 1998. No names are given. Other sources say it was CyberBingo, but this was launched in 1996. There are also mentions of Bingo Zone, but this seems to have been free to play in exchange for your personal data.

In 1998 PlanetPoker.com was launched, ushering in the era of online poker.

By the end of 1999 the growth was out of control. In Australia, Lasseters in Alice Springs got the country’s first and only online casino license. This was the start of a brief digital gambling experiment, before restrictive laws took effect the following year.

The United Kingdom’s territories took note: Alderney, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar began licensing operators, providing the regulatory credibility and tax advantages that made them attractive for would-be internet betting giants.

By the turn of the millennium, the industry had it's second major boom: annual iGaming revenues had surged to an estimated $2.2 billion.

And this was just a warmup.

Founding Pioneers of iGaming:

Teddi Sagi - founder of Playtech.

Con Kafataris - founder of Centrebet.

Martin Moshal - founder of Microgaming.

William "Billy" Scott - founder of InterCasino.

Pontus Lindwall - founder of Net Entertainment.

Andrew Rivkin & Mark Rivkin - founders of CryptoLogic.

Norbert Teufelberger & Manfred Bodner - founders of bwin.

André Wilsenach - led the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.

Ruth Parasol, Russ DeLeon, Vikrant Bhargava & Anurag Dikshit - founders of PartyGaming/Party Poker. 

Avi Shaked & Aaron Shaked & Shay Ben-Yitzhak - founders of Casino-On-Net (later known as 888 Holdings).

Norman Trell & Sharif Ayoub - founders of Starnet Communications (later known as World Gaming).

Rolf Lundström - founder of BossMedia.

Continue to Chapter 3 - Billions, Banks and Backdoors.