Live Casino Timeline

1994 - Antigua and Barbuda Issues the First Online Casino Licenses

The year 1994 is a crucial milestone in the history of online gambling. This is when the small Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda became the first ever jurisdiction to license and regulate online gambling companies after the local government signed the Free Trade and Processing Zone Act.

This piece of legislation led to the formation of the Directorate of Offshore Gaming, which is a division of the local Financial Services Regulatory Commission, mandated with various licensing and regulatory responsibilities.

This year was also marked by the birth of Microgaming, the first supplier of online casino software in history. The company launched the first online casino, the Gaming Club, and went on to become one of the largest suppliers of gambling software in the world.

1996 - The Birth of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in North America

Two years after online gambling became a reality, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake, Canada. The Commission issued its first licenses three years later after it enacted the Kahnawake Gaming Law, introducing its Regulations concerning Interactive Gaming in July 1999.

The regulator initially issued licenses to gambling operators hosted at its own data center Mohawk Internet Technology, including many casinos that serviced US customers despite the US government’s prohibition.

This changed in November 2017 when the Commission amended its policies after reaching an agreement with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Control whereby the regulator pulled out its licensees from the US market. The Kahnawake jurisdiction is currently one of the most prodigious regulators of online gaming operators and has numerous live casino licensees.

The year 1996 also saw the formation of the Interactive Gaming Council, with Microgaming being one of its founding members. This entity provides a unified voice across the online casino industry and ensures its members comply with a strict fairness code of conduct.

2000 - Alderney Becomes the First European Online Gaming Regulator

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission was established in 2000 with the mandate to enforce Alderney’s recently introduced online gaming legislation. The Alderney Gambling Law was enacted in the previous year. The Gambling Control Commission went on to become one of the leading regulators of online casino operations in the world.

Some of its most reputable licensees include Grosvenor Casinos, Genting Casino, Paddy Power, NetBet, and Super Casino, all of which offer impressive suites of live dealer games. One of the most recent additions to Alderney’s roster of licensees is Evolution Gaming, the world-renowned supplier of live casino solutions. Evolution received its Alderney license in August 2017.

2003 - eCOGRA Arrives on the Scene

The year 2003 was marked by the arrival of the non-profit organization eCOGRA many of you have probably heard of. Software studio Microgaming was also involved in its creation. The purpose of the organization is to provide a unified ethical-practices framework across the interactive gambling industry.

Apart from dealing with player complaints and assisting with their resolution, eCOGRA is also a world-acclaimed testing agency. It audits the software of various online casinos to ensure the games yield their expected theoretical return percentages and are fair to players. A casino with eCOGRA’s stamp of approval is always a good choice for those who insist on having their peace of mind where fair play is concerned.

2008/2010 - More Operators Add Live Dealer Games

The number of gaming operators to incorporate live dealer games into their portfolios continued to grow at a steady pace in the years following 2007. In 2008, operators like Blue Square, Unibet, and BetVictor all launched live casinos powered by the Evolution Gaming platform.

The same year saw the formation of William Hill Online, a joint venture of software supplier Playtech and William Hill Plc. This led to the launch of the William Hill Casino Club which featured live casino games provided by no other than Playtech. Several years later William Hill bought out Playtech’s 29% share, gaining full control over William Hill Online.

More live casinos went online in 2009 when operators Paddy Power, 888, Ladbrokes, and PartyCasino all added Evolution Gaming live dealer offerings to their websites. Meanwhile, Evolution Gaming expanded its Latvian studio by the impressive 400%, adding more live tables.

New Evolution casinos continued to sprout like mushrooms in the following year, so much so that the company was named Live Casino Supplier of the Year at the 2010 EGR Awards. At the same time, Microgaming upgraded its live platform and added live blackjack to its selection.

2011 - The First Localized Live Dealer Games Arrive

Localized live dealer games started to appear around 2011. This is the year when Betfair added a selection of live games from Playtech’s European studio. These were language-localized live tables, designed to cater to players from different markets. Casino buffs now had the chance to benefit from multilingual user interfaces and live dealer services in their native languages.

Evolution had several other major achievements in 2011. The studio collected its second consecutive EGR award for Live Casino Supplier of the Year. It also received a license from the Italian regulator AAMS which enabled it to legally service players from the local market. The company launched several localized tables complete with native-speaking Italian dealers, including Venezia Live Roulette in 2011 and the 2012 release Ventuno Blackjack.

2012 - First Dedicated Live Dealer Rooms and Mobile Games

In 2012, many major gaming suppliers expanded their operations on the Italian market, launching “.it” domains under local licenses. Some of the most noteworthy names that penetrated this lucrative market include PartyCasino, William Hill, and Unibet, all of which make use of Evolution Gaming’s localized live tables.

Unibet, in particular, became the first gambling operator in history to get a dedicated Evolution Gaming live dealer room in March 2012. The casino’s live section was upgraded with five dedicated tables, four for blackjack and one for live roulette. The tables feature unique backdrops, with the dealers wearing special branded uniforms with the Unibet logo. Contender William Hill followed suit in May of the same year.

The first live dealer games for iPads were introduced one year earlier by the Macau-based supplier EntwineTech. However, it was not until 2012 that mobile live games gained traction when major operators Grosvenor Casinos and Blue Square added Evolution’s live roulette for iPads. The mobile gaming sector quickly took off.

2013 - More Live Games Go Mobile, Landbased Casino Streams Commence

In 2013, Playtech introduced live roulette for iPads while Evolution Gaming added live iOS blackjack to their gaming selection. Live casino apps started to appear in Apple’s UK App Store. Swedish software supplier NetEnt joined the live gaming revolution in the same year.

Until 2013, live dealer games were largely hosted and broadcast from sophisticated studio environments. This changed when Playtech unveiled its intentions to incorporate live streams from an actual landbased casino (Spain’s Casino Gran Madrid) into its constantly expanding selection of live dealer games.

Evolution Gaming was quick to notice the potential of this idea and soon followed Playtech’s example. The company launched live roulette streams from the floors of the Spanish casino Casino Rincon de Pepe and the Italian Casinò di Campione. Presently, Evolution also broadcasts live games from London’s Hippodrome Casino and the Maltese Dragonara Casino.

2015 - Regulated Live Games Arrive in the US

In 2006, the administration of then-US president George W. Bush enacted what is known across the industry as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). This piece of legislation made it illegal for financial institutions in the country to facilitate money transfers between US residents and offshore gambling operators without US licenses.

The trouble was very few states granted such licenses and the online operators had to work in partnership with US landbased casinos to legally service players from the local market. This forced many live casino suppliers, including Microgaming and Playtech, to withdraw their products and cease servicing US players.

Things took a favorable turn for some US gambling fans in 2015 when the Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City added a selection of live dealer tables on its online gaming site. The software was provided by supplier Ezugi, which was acquired by Evolution Gaming in January 2019.

2017/2020 - Latest Improvements in Live Casino Gaming

We already mentioned Playtech spent the larger portion of 2017 migrating its live dealers to a new, bigger and better studio in Riga, which was a turning point in the company’s history. The past couple of years saw several improvements in the live dealer segment, with more and more providers introducing in-casino streams and gameplay.

Some of the most noteworthy names in this respect include Evolution Gaming, Extreme Live Gaming (recently acquired by Pragmatic Play), and Authentic Gaming. The latter offers exclusive live roulette games, streamed from the floors of Italy’s Saint-Vincent Resort & Casino, Georgia’s Hilton International Casino in Batumi, the US Foxwoods Casino, London’s Aspers Casino, Casino Bucharest in the Romanian capital, and Germany’s Casino Bad Homburg.

Tons of new features were introduced to improve players’ live gaming experience, including betting behind, multiple camera angles, multi-tabling, and multi-player tables. Fast play became a phenomenon, with the majority of suppliers adding speed deal and speed spin tables to their suites. Surely the live casino industry will continue improving at a steady pace in the years to follow.