In this article we will present you some statistics and interesting information about online gambling, but also about gambling in Las Vegas that you probably did not know. This way you will get a better idea of how much money is going around in the gambling market both online and offline and you will also learn some surprising information about the types of people who choose to play online.
The first online casino ever launched online was Inter Casino. It came out in 1996 and offered 18 games at that time. Nowadays there are thousands of online casinos, some of them even offering more than 600 games, of which usually 2/3 are online casinos!
Although the first online casino appeared in 1996, the first company that created casino games was launched in 1994. This is Microgaming, and of course it is they who supplied games to Inter Casino. And today Microgaming keeps up with technology , releasing the first game for Oculus Rift VR: VR Roulette.
It’s hard to say exactly how much money goes around in online casinos, but certain studies show that in 2006, players all over the world wagered a total of over $15.2 billion! In 2010 the figure reached 29.3 billion dollars, and in 2015 it already exceeded 40 billion! Even if these figures are not 100% accurate, they give us an overall idea of the amounts that are spinning in online gambling and how much this market is progressing from year to year. However, it should be noted that offline gaming rooms are still preferred worldwide, where the stakes are even 3-5 times higher!
A survey shows that in the USA 57% of online casino players are women! Another survey shows that things are about the same globally: 55% of players are female. This is certainly surprising to many. Of these players, it appears that 29.5% are between 46 and 57 years old.
The most passionate players of online casino games in the world are Australians. Studies show that 80% of adults gamble online. More surprising is the fact that they invest in online gambling, on average, $1,200 per year per player, which is obviously a lot. In such a top 2nd place would be Singapore, followed by Ireland, Canada and Italy.
More and more people are choosing to play casino games directly from their phone or tablet. The biggest growth was in the UK, where from 2012 to 2015 the number of mobile players increased by 75% year-on-year.
The biggest jackpot ever won in online gambling was €17,879,645. It was won in 2015 by Britain’s Jonathan Heywood in the Mega Moolah game. This game has been offered over time in Romania by several online casinos, such as Unibet, Netbet and Winmasters. But now unfortunately we can no longer find it at any licensed casino. However, this jackpot doesn’t even come close to the $39,713,982 prize won in Las Vegas on March 21, 2003 on an IGT Megabucks slot machine game The Excalibur. The big winner was a 25-year-old programmer from Los Angeles who preferred to remain anonymous.
Online casinos have an approved payout of 95-99%, while street casinos rarely exceed 60%, but even so, more money continues to circulate in the offline environment than on the Internet.
Many online casinos today have the famous “BAR” sign in addition to symbols with fruits or sevens. It comes from the symbol of the company “Bell Fruit”, which created some of the first fruit machines in the world. Interestingly, these machines did not award cash prizes, but gummies that were flavored with the fruits that appeared on the screen. This is where fruit slots originated and became so popular. The idea is that the “BAR” symbol is still used today in games that are not necessarily related to the Bell Fruit company.
Although not entirely related to online gambling, I decided to offer some interesting statistics related to Las Vegas:
- Annually Las Vegas is visited by more than 37 million tourists. Of these approximately 80% go to try their luck in casinos.
- In Las Vegas there is one vending machine for every eight residents.
- A survey shows that 38% of Americans over the age of 21 have visited a Las Vegas casino at least once. The average budget established by them for gambling was $589.90.
- Among those who go to Las Vegas for gambling, 68% prefer slot machines.
- 22% of Americans who visit Las Vegas casinos are over the age of 65, so there are plenty of Americans gambling away their retirement and life savings.
- It is considered that annually those who visit the “City of Lights” lose 6 billion dollars, and this can also explain why Las Vegas is the fastest growing American city.
- Over 60% of Americans over the age of 21 play casino games at least once a year, either online or offline.