From ancient times, man has strived with his activities for self-realization the creation of his own identity, to live better and happier. Happiness came in different ways through superstition, folk wisdom, play and the like. As the game is closely related to happiness, on the one hand as a creator of temporary, short-term happiness at the time of its play, and on the other hand, happiness is seen as a result of risk due to the game (gambling) and binds to the material side, money or objects of values.
Contrary to the game as complete freedom, in games of chance human instinct and irrationality come into the main frame. Precisely expectation and uncertainty enable a person an apparent escape from reality and established rules of life and ideological guidelines for gaining happiness and material well-being in life.
In medieval Europe, dice games were very popular, and obviously a problem in some countries. Thus, in 1190, King Richard the Lionheart, who fought the Third Crusade, issued orders restricting gambling among soldiers. By the 15th century, the popularity of dice had decreased. Playing cards has replaced dice as the most popular way to gamble. Card playing was brought to Europe from Asia and the Arab world in the middle of the 14th century, and 100 years later, cards became “domesticated” throughout Europe. One version of the history of roulette, which means “small wheel” in French, says that it was constructed by the mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1655, and the other that it was invented by the Chinese, and that it arrived in Europe through Dominican monks.
What is certain is that the modern version of roulette was made by Frans and Louis Blanc. Legend has it that the two brothers sold their souls to the devil in exchange for the secret of the game, which is why the sum of all the numbers on roulette is 666. The Europeans took the dice with them to the “New World” where it experienced a real boom. Online gambling industry has seen a phenomenal growth in popularity, and profits have shown signs of remarkable growth in recent years. Obstacles to “online gambling” were overcome in 1994, when the government of Antigua and Barbuda, small islands in the Caribbean, passed a law that would allow companies to obtain a license to operate online casinos. With this law, online casino sites are springing up all over the Internet.
In the 21st century, when everything has become faster and when people are looking to save time wasted waiting in long lines, quick alternatives have been found. Many tasks have become easier with internet services that obligations make easier to do with just one click. Thus, certain forms of entertainment such as gambling became available outside the casino rooms. Online gambling includes poker, online machines, sports betting and horse racing betting.
Many countries restrict or ban online gambling, but this type of gambling is legal in most European countries. Malta is the first European Union country to regulate online gambling and betting, and it is also one of the centers for online gambling. Participation in online gambling continues to grow due to the lack of regulation of online gambling, mass advertising, the widespread use of computers and mobile technologies, and the increased availability of high-speed Internet access.
With technological innovation Europe’s online gambling market is growing at about 10% per year, faster than land-based gambling, such as casinos or bookmaker shops. The growth in online gambling is also being driven by changing regulatory landscapes in EU countries, most of which now have dedicated regulation for online gambling activities. Some of the reasons why gambling industry has become more online oriented are there accessibility to the internet from a mobile phone, anonymous bets and amounts, higher coefficients on average by 10%, access to the history of your bets. The Internet has created space for new types of gambling. Among the most played forms are: Software for playing machines / machines (EGM), internet poker, playing the lottery (lottery tickets), online roulette, blackjack etc. In most countries where online gambling is allowed, each online casino must have a separate license from the country where the server and provider are.
There are thousands of online casinos on the internet where users can try their luck, in Europe some of them are: This is Vegas, Golden Axe, Cocoa Casino, Ridika. Also, one of the reasons why gambling is becoming more prevalent in Europe is because it is impossible to control minors through the online betting system, minors can register through data from adults as well as use their accounts. It is estimated that there are more than 2 million people in the United Kingdom who have a gambling problem, including 11-year-old children. A mitigating circumstance in online gambling industry is that people are not aware of how much money they are losing, because just one click is enough to transfer money from the account, which allows players to lose more money than when playing in casino rooms where they have to withdraw money first from ATMs and on that occasion awareness of possible loss of money is created because people when they see numbers on their accounts don’t think of it as real money.
One type of cheating casino is that it offers players free versions of games to get them hooked so that later on entering their money they lose that same money. Also casinos can ban players based on their policy, a player banned from one site can simply sign up at another with just a few mouse clicks. That is why a company in the United Kingdom founded the Gamstop site, which restricts online gambling activities by registering. Gamstop is a free service for users. However, players in the United Kingdom can play at Non Gamstop Casinos that do not located in the UK and do not fall under UKGC jurisdiction.
Europe will increase the number of members of online gambling industry over time, because it has very good marketing, payment of advertisements, engagement of famous YouTuber influencers and other public figures to promote it in the form of spreading entertainment where it gets its publicity and develops in areas where it is not represented.
