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When we take a look at the history of human civilization, we cannot do much but agree that the introduction of the internet is one of the top innovations that ever happened. Just think about it, we can access whatever information we want when we want.
We don’t need to go through countless books and records. We can all agree with the fact that numerous industries out there benefited from utilizing this concept. But there’s one of them that has benefited more than others. We are talking about the gambling industry.
That made its services much more accessible to the people interested in them. Out of all the forms of gambling out there, sports betting is the most popular one out there for obvious reasons. There are numerous sites out there to choose from. You can see one of them at https://20bet.com/ca/prematch.
Now, let’s take a look at the history of online sports gambling in greater detail. Without further ado, let’s begin.
Offline Sports Betting
As you may know, the history of offline sports betting is so long that even precedes the appearance of the industry itself. The earliest signs of this activity can be found in some of the oldest scripts. For example, we can find them in ancient Greece, after the foundation of the Olympic games in that country.
It continued in ancient Rome, with the story about gladiators. We’ve all seen Russell Crow’s movie “Gladiator”, which was exceptionally accurate according to many historians. During this time, we can see the earliest signs of what we know today as the gambling industry. Naturally, it wasn’t nearly as developed as it is today.
However, the seed was planted. Thousand years into the future, we can see that sports betting has reached its highest levels in the United Kingdom after people started betting on disciplines like horse racing. All of these elements are crucial to understanding what we have in front of us now.
The Racetrack Part
We’ve mentioned the importance of horseracing in the history of sports betting. When you have a closer look at this aspect, you will see just how interesting it is. It was popular in the United Kingdom, but many people don’t know how important it was in the early years of the United States.
As is always the case, it began as an almost insignificant, neighboring activity, and it has grown into a spectacle of some sort. We can even see that some of these activities had a role that didn’t encompass just entertainment. During the Revolutionary War, this was a way of amassing funds to supply the army.
What needs to be said is that horseracing back then is completely different from the one we have today. Today, it is much more complex, and players have more options to choose from when placing a wager. Back then, you could wager solely on the horse that will win the race and nothing else than that.
How the Internet Changed Things?
The level of development of sports gambling was at a certain level for a couple of centuries. However, the real game-changer was the introduction of the internet, as we’ve said. It was a crucial occurrence that made this activity into what it is now. The first site of this sort was developed back in 1996.
It was called Intertops, and it can be considered a revolution of some sort. It was the first time that the concept of mobile betting was introduced to the players. After that, people had a chance to place a wager on whatever match they want, whenever they want, and no matter what their location is.
Players don’t need to sit in their cars and go to bookies. Instead, they can do it from the comfort of their homes. It saves them both time and money they would need to spend on gas, right? Plus, the whole experience was completely personalized. Every player can track any of their past activities.
The Industry’s Potential
Even though there are no accurate reports that say how many people participate in online sports gambling, we can see that some of them came pretty close. No matter which one of them you take a look at, you will see that the number of sports bettors in the world surpasses dozens of millions.
Some reports make even bolder claims by saying that the accessibility, which was made possible by the internet, has sparked more than 30% of the whole global population to participate in this activity at least once. That alone should say just how much potential this industry has for the future.
The current numbers, dozens of millions, are also nothing to take for granted. The gambling industry evolves constantly, and it focuses massively on sports betting since this is a branch that attracts the most players. Everyone who knows a certain discipline would like to cash in on that knowledge.
The Current State
Now we’ve reached the most important part of this article of ours, the latest movements in online sports gambling. First, we want to say that there’s practically no discipline on the planet you cannot put a wager on. Just to through the lists of disciplines on each site of this sort you come across.
Sure, some of them are more popular in certain parts of the world than in others. Nevertheless, there are no boundaries when it comes to the ones you want to place a wager on. For instance, you can live in the United States, and if you are interested in soccer, then you can easily put some money on matches in European leagues.
Probably the highlight of this branch of the industry is live betting. For those who don’t know what this is, we are talking about the possibility of placing a live bet on a certain match. At the same time, there’s no limitation on the type of wagers you can make.
In Conclusion
The history of online sports betting is nothing short of exceptional. We’ve covered the things that came before the internet and guided you through the modern history of this activity. We’re certain you will find all the information here interesting and informative. One thing is for certain, online sports bettors are an evolving community.