In 1994, the Caribbean nation of Antigua & Barbuda became the first country to legalize online gambling. It didn't take long for the software Provider Microgaming to be founded, which shortly after released the first online Casino called The Gaming Club. Initially, however, it was not possible to make financial transactions here. With the help of Cryptologic, the first online casino with real money transactions was then published in 1996 with InterCasino. Today, there are a higher three-digit number of online casinos in the German-speaking online gambling market alone.
The majority of the platforms are so-called web-based online casinos. This means that players do not have to download any software, but can visit the respective online casino directly in their Internet browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome). The majority of software providers now develop their casino games in HTML5 format, so they can be accessed without any problems. An online casino is a virtual casino, for which visitors naturally need Internet access.
The majority of casino games available are usually virtual slot machines. These cover a wide variety of themes and nowadays offer numerous interesting bonus features. The most well-known developers of such online slots currently include Microgaming, Play'n GO, NetEnt, Merkur, Pragmatic Play, Bally Wulff, Yggdrasil, Quickspin and iSoftBet.
In addition to slots, many online casinos also provide so-called banker games. These are, for example, Roulette, Blackjack or baccarat. Often there are even live casinos, where players can compete in real time against croupiers or other gambling friends. Already in 2019, more than 1,000 German-language online casinos targeted players from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In terms of gross gaming revenue, online casinos were among the most popular online gambling in Europe in 2017 (32.14%), after sports betting (40.31%). To be allowed to play in an online casino, "visitors" must be at least 18 years old.