Before the Internet, gamblers had to travel to the nearest casino in order to play their game of choice and get their gambling fix.  Today, people who love to gamble can still go to the casino to play their favorite casino games or they can save the trip, stay in and play at an online casino.  The online casino is a widely loved way to play games of skill and chance online and has significantly evolved since making its debut in the mid-1990’s.

There is some debate as to which online casino was the first.  Some historians agree that The Gaming Club was the very first casino to come to market online, while others will claim that Interops was the very first online casino.  Regardless of who was actually first, these two online casinos were the first of many operators to bring the casino to an online venue.

The first online casinos were quite limited in games and the online casino software was quite slow and took significant computer resources in order to run.  Online casinos began focusing on the user, and trying to bring forth new and innovative features and games.  In 1998, progressive slot games made their debut to the online casino realm.  The potential of smacking a progressive jackpot appealed to the masses and many people began flocking to online casinos.  In 2002, a $1.5 million dollar progressive jackpot was paid out to a lucky slots player at an online casino.

In 2003, a movement to oversee the online casino industry took a huge leap when eCOGRA was formed.  The Ecommerce and Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance dedicated themselves to improve the security, as well as safety of online casinos.  Today, eCOGRA is still a key player in keeping the honest people honest and protecting the casino players.

As home computers became more efficient and casino operators evolved their online casino software, casinos are able to offer more and more games while using less resources.  The no download casino software serves as a lighter version of the full download casino and lets players use the network resources to play their favorite games, as opposed to bogging down their own computers with the downloadable casino software.