Virtual Casinos Online

In the mid 1990's a new concept emerged virtual casinos online. Internet gambling where your casino play is virtual with no physical building. Just download the casino and start playing on your computer. Slots, video poker and later live poker playing against real players. Virtual casinos caught on quickly. The ease of playing from home and the large payouts were a huge draw. The casinos offered the same gambling action you'd find at any land based casino but the comfort of playing when and how you wanted. If you felt like playing at 3am in your pajamas you could. With low overhead most of the online casino odds were better than their land based counterparts.

In 1998 United States legislation was introduced to ban online gambling. Which failed to make gambling online illegal. The Gambling Impact Study Commission Report was introduced.

By 2001, there were thousands of online casinos. Most of them were honest and reputable. But, there were some rogue casinos just looking to steal player’s money as fast as they could. Then the rogue casinos would shut down and open under a new name. Players had to be very careful of which casinos were trustworthy and which ones where not. The need for regulation became so strong that reputable casinos started to regulate themselves. Player watch groups appeared to help new players make the right choices. With lists of reputable and regulated casinos and lists of rogue casinos to avoid. A great and reputable player's watch group website is Casinomeister.

In 2003 with the United States congress still intent on banning internet gambling with the introduction of Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act. Antigua took steps to protect their licensed virtual casino operators. They presented a dispute through the World Trade Organization against the United States.

In 2004 the World Trade Organization panel ruled that the "United States prohibitions on Internet gambling are unfair trade practices and that the country should open its borders to international casinos". The United States filed an appeal to the ruling.

In 2006 with a last minute ditch effort the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was added to the Safe Port Act and passed through both the house and congress. What does internet gambling have to do with port security? Nothing! The bill wouldn't pass on its own merits so it was snuck through with the Safe Port Act. The final language of the bill was not even read by the committee before the vote.