This is a piece that will take you through some of the humble beginnings of online betting from Antigua to the current state and level of its sophistication. During these times, insane stunts from PR were taken and royal baby betting, as well as, endorsements in the industry happened often.

This online betting industry is worth in excess of $1 billion according to Statista which is a sum equal to the GDP of Netherlands.

A Journey on Online Betting

In 1994, Antigua and Barbuda approved of free Trade and Processing Zone Act which allowed offshore licences for online betting providers.

1996 saw intertops.com become the first sports book where a Finish puncture known as Jukka Honkavaara made the first wager and this was on a match between Tottenham Hotspurs and Hereford United. In this same year, The United States of America set a record in making wagers worth $60 Million on online gaming and betting platforms.

Activities and Growth of the Industry

It was in 1998 when Senator Jon Kyl brought to the floor and Internet Gaming Prohibition Act but the bill was not successful. The House of Representatives did not pass this bill in 2000 when it was presented again. It was in this same year when William Hill was launched as the first UK company offering online betting services. At this same period, a report was published by Frost & Sullivan and indicated that online gambling revenues made a top of $830 million.

As online betting was in its journey to grow; there was this doomsday prediction in 2000 where bookmarkers provided odds of 500-1 and the bet was that all real-world betting shops will comes to a close in 10 years. At this time, Europe saw another betting online store come to existence; Ladbrokes which was established by The Hilton Group. Another UK betting exchange by the name Betfair came to existence and they saw 36 bets on the first day. The company had a great time in their operations and in 2013, they registered an income of £70 million.

I would say that this evolution for online betting has come a long way and steadily. 2003 was when the first mobile betting platform was brought to action by sporting Index. This was the first UK mobile betting application. This same year reports were released by ORC International indicating that online betting had grown by 46% and offline betting from betting shops had gone up by 46%.

2004 saw the online betting fray joined by PaddyPower Sport.

2006 saw the USA ban betting after passing the UIGEA. This made it illegal for banks and companies offering credit to process any financial transaction related to betting sites. This saw a host of sites withdrawing from the market.

Graham Calvert lost £2 million at William Hill Casino in 2008 and sued them for this but he lose the lawsuit.

Technological advancements

Even though the US market was still unregulated, online sports betting wagers came to $50 billion in 2009.

2010 saw more celebrity endorsements after Ray Winstone “Sexy Beast” became the voice of bet365 advert campaign as he offered advice on live and in play odds.

From Statista betting it was found that the online sports betting market was worth $74 billion. This was in 2012. In 2013, Jason Neubauer launched YouBetMe and this was the first special networking betting application and it made it possible for members to bet against each other and not bookmarkers. This was the same year were match fixing madness came to play. Europol suspected the fixing o 380 European football matches and the illegal betting market that was fuelled by Asian crime syndicates which was estimated to be worth £306 billion.

2014 was when bitcoin came to play as a means of exchange and BetVIP was the first licensed bitcoin only sports book and launched just before the World Cup. SoftSwiss which was the Bitcoin Software company claimed that $10 million was the worth of wagers made each month.

2015 was when 11.1 million searches were made every month on Google for the term bet365 which was more than the 9 million searches Nike gets. At this point in time, online betting brings a contribution of $74 to $100 billion in the sports betting industry which is worth between $700 and $1,000 billion which is the same case with the GDP of Netherlands.

Dafabet are doing good on their marketing growth in the UK football. This has been confirmed by their recent multi-tier sponsorship of Welsh Premier League which is the highest in Wales when it comes to professional football.

There were no financial details revealed regarding the deal but the WPL officials reported to the media that this sponsorship by Dafabet will be one of the lucrative deals they have had. This sponsorship was confirmed after confirmation that Dafabet will be Sunderland’s AFC shirt sponsor.

This expansion of Dafabet into UK football has prompted the Asian bookmaker go into agreements with Blackburn Rovers, Everton FC and Celtic FC.

The officials in the WPL expressed their gratitude as having Dafabet as their headline sponsors in the league. As Dafabet works at improving their portfolio, WPL believe that this shows the league is growing and they promise to work on the product to have improve and attract more sponsors of Dafabet’s calibre.

On the other hand, Dafabet said that it was in their plan to have their presence increased in this new season of English football. They recently made a partnership in the Scottish football and they also thought it wise to have an opportunity to impact in the Welsh football.

This new sponsorship will see them represented across all clubs which will assist in their sports betting products’ growth.

What you need to know about Dafabet

Dafabet is one of Asia’s leaders in online sports betting. In their bookie, be ready to come across world class sports betting where you are offered with the platform to bet on numerous sports games. They have more than 5,000 live sporting events which you can place your bets on. Some of the games you can bet on include; soccer, hockey, horse racing, basketball, tennis, rugby, horse racing, hound racing and golf in a myriad of many more.

They have their oddsmakrers preparing good odds for you and a customer service team which is always ready to assist you. To get the best from your bets be sure to visit their promotions’ page which is updated with recent promotions for value on your money.

William Hill is one of the renowned UK gambling operators. Recently they pulled out from the Romanian Market. Punters were unable to continue with their betting endeavours from Tuesday 3rd June. This is after the company ceased their operations and suspended the Romanian accounts. They asked the players to make submissions of their winnings payouts.

All those webmasters who acted as the Romanian market affiliates were also instructed to get rid of banners and links which connected their sites to Romania. A Spokesperson for William Hill said that their actions were prompted by the developments around regulating the Romanian market.

A new online gambling framework is being institutionalised in Romania which is planned to attract a couple of international licensees. Last month, the government made announcements that they needed all license applicants to pay up back taxes worth 20% of all the winnings from their Romanian players dating back to 2009. William Hill’s exit follows what Ladbrokes did in January, as well as Bet365.

On May 28^th the president of Romania signed the new amendments to Government Bill 92/2014 which left the law to be published in the Official Journal for it to be put into effect. Interested operators have until the end of 2015 to send in their application to the National Gambling Office for the licenses.

On other news regarding William Hill, they ceased their offerings for their poker rake-back offers as from 1^st June. William Hill runs on Playtech’s iPoker network which prompted them to change to source-based rake model this year in February which was their model of rewarding skins for bringing in more players to their poker arena. For players who were on the rake-back deals will be switched to Hill’s VIP program.

Thanks to Inspired Gaming Group, Hills now has two new HTML5 mobile applications. These fascinating games include a Romanian themed omni-channel smash by the name Centurion which is at this time one of William Hills’ top 3 games. The other is the called Spirit of the Samurai which is a free spins slot. The SVP to the mobile section at William Hill; Dave Hammond said that he was excited with the performance of the two games which are exclusive to William Hill’s mobile platform.

BetVictor is known to be one of the best sportsbook in Europe and all over the world. This has been a family business since 1925. In 1963, after the legalisation of betting shops Victor Chandler started his own shops for betting services. UK customers did not like betting a lot due to the 9% tax remitted on bets but Victor took charge of this by getting betting licenses from Gibraltar which made it possible for him to deliver his sports betting service free from UK tax. Through the years BetVictor has become a household name which is all through their commitment to technology and their will to have their customers satisfied all the time. At BetVictor you can bet on NFL, NBA, NHL, Cricket, Formula 1, rugby, golf, greyhounds, tennis and horse racing in a myriad of many more sports.

As a rookie at the bookie, you are up for a newbie’s sign up bonus worth £25. All you need to do is register a betting account with BetVictor and make a deposit which will be matched.

For the tennis fans, there is the “don’t hit the net” promo which is a money back bonus where you get your money back if one of your 5-fold lets you down. You need to place a five-fold bet on any tennis markets and if you make a loss of one, you will have your stake refunded of up to £50.

Saturdays from 10am to 11am is happy hour time at BetVictor. When you bet on football during this time, you will get 10 free spins to enjoy at the casino.

If you love betting on football, you will love the money back bonus dubbed back of the net. For you to qualify for the bonus, you need to bet on both teams to score market for 5 or more matches, in case one leg lets you down, you will have your money back up to £25.

With BetVictor, you can watch all horse races live from their website which makes live betting pretty easy for you. All UK and Irish Races are aired on their website and you can watch them from your PC or mobile.

Before going for any of the bonuses, you need to read through all the terms and conditions to make sure that you are capable of meeting all the terms and conditions set. This way, you are able to evaluate whether the bonus is worth your while or not.

PokerStars has spent months speculating on the UK market and they have now launched their services in the United Kingdom. Players are now able to place their bets on a couple of markets through PokerStars 7 software.

At the moment, PokerStars is only accepting football, tennis, ice hockey, rugby, basketball, volleyball and handball. These will not be the only offerings as there is a banner promising of more game betting in the future.

When you first look at the UK site, you will notice that the odds may seem to be of the same standard as those of other world-class bookmarkers. You will notice that their odd analysis skills can be compared to those of other bigwigs in the industry like, William Hill, Betfred and Betfair in a myriad of many more.

For those who wise to place their bets on this new platform, they can do so on the PokerStars 7 client from their desktops, iOS and Android powered devices. This will be possible in a few steps which include registering a real account and loading it with money through their safe and convenient banking options. Apart from betting, you will be exposed to other casino games such as Poker, table games, card games and slots in a myriad of many more.

Without a doubt, PokerStars betting services will grow in terms of the subscribers, in the coming weeks.

Pokerstars is owned by Amaya Gamin and is part of a joint venture with GVC Holdings for online gambling entity bwinparty digital plc which is owner to bwin party.

When playing at PokerStars, be sure to have an exciting time with all the bonuses and promotions in line waiting for you. There are the deposit and new player bonuses which will be awarded on redemption. Be sure to read all the play-through requirements for each bonus for successful betting on your favourite sports.

You could start betting on your favourite sports as soon as you wish and enjoy the wide array of sports available and expect more in the near future.