FOR DISCUSSION: How much do you know about online casino?

    Online casino or e-casino is a channel which enables people from different places to gather and gamble by using their own electronic devices with the accessibility of the internet. According to Aranda (2006), the first e-casino, Internet Casinos, Inc. (ICI) was established in 18th August, 1995 by Microgaming. The operation of the e-casino was limited within certain area outside of USA to prevent from the government intervention. Plus, only few games were available on that time due to the lack of technology advancement. As time passed, more news games were introduced and brought into the online casino. The most common game is the online poker, a card game introduced in 1998 which only involves gambling between the players. Another popular game is the online roulette where players get their chance to win the game if the ball hit the numbers they bet on when the wheel stop to spin.We'll be giving a brief introduction to the games later on


Casino games are different from other types of gambling. Gambling can include betting, bingo, casino games, gaming machines, lotteries and pools (Gambleaware.com 2010). Casino games are just one small segment of gambling and what we are focusing to our topic is online casino games. Casino games are different for normal bettings such as betting on football matches and also lotteries where players have a small chance of winning with their luck. Casino games allows probability calculation mixed with certain amount of skill and luck to win a game. According to May (2000), the top ten casino games that are most preferred by players can be sequenced into:

1)Poker
2)Blackjack
3)Video Poker
4)Roulette
5)Baccarat
6)Gaming Tournaments
7)Craps
8)Carribean Stud
9)Let It Ride
10)Pai Gow Poker

 

The online casino had earned large amount of revenue in the passed year. Based on the statistic diagram above provided by the Online Poker Channel (2010), the annual revenue has increased stably since 2001 which nearly hit $25 billions this year. This indicates that the online casino channel is so attractive and keeps on growing due to the increasing number of customers/players and the improvement of technology. The drastic increase in revenue also invites in more competitors and more online gambling websites who wish share the wealth of operating a gambling website. One question here is that the actual revenue earned or could it be more? IS every single revenue earned from these websites taxed? Could some revenue had been hidden from transparency and not taxed? Discuss.


Therefore, such a area is a very interesting topic to explore and so, do come to our blog often to follow our updates on online casino games.

Reference:

Aranda N 2009, History of Online Casino, viewed 13 September 2010, http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Online-Casino&id=135546

Gambleaware 2010, Types of Gambling, viewed 15 September 2010, http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/seek-help/types-of-gambling.

May, J 2000, Top Ten Casino Game Profit Opportunities,  viewed 15 September 2010, http://may.casinocitytimes.com/article/top-ten-casino-game-profit-opportunities-1129.

Online Poker Channel (2010), viewed 14 September 2010,

http://www.onlinepokerchannel.com/casino-industry-review/