Gambling in Canada- A Short History
The casino industry is one of the biggest in the world, with billions of people around the globe enjoying some of the best games the casino world has to offer.
Whether it’s slots, poker, blackjack, or bingo, over the last twenty years, the world of gambling has grown exponentially to become the behemoth that it is today.
There are many countries around the world that frown upon casinos, but fortunately there are many more that allow it fully, such as Canada.
Canada has some of the best gambling laws in the world, and most citizens are free to enjoy casino games at their own luxury.
The question is, how did it culminate in having some of the best gambling laws in the world? Like with all Canadian history, expansion of the casino industry in the country is both interesting and informative.
Where It All Began
Canada was colonised by Europeans in the 1860s, but before the colonists arrived, there are many records of the natives enjoying their own forms of gambling.
Reports from as far back as the late 1400s tell of native people of Canada playing and betting on games of chance that were in place to test their mental and physical limits.
After the country had been officially colonised, gambling carried with it many of the laws from previous countries, such as those in Britain.
This meant that the government in Canada eventually banned gambling in its entirety in 1892, but this only lasted 8 years.
In 1900, the government dropped the ban, and the people were free to enjoy gambling as they saw fit. Some years later, during the 1960s, the government saw the value of national lotteries, and over time, allowed more land-based casinos to be built.
Modern Canadian Casinos
Casinos in Canada proved to be a monumental success, and before long there were casinos of every shape and size in just about every settlement around the country.
Canadians enjoyed all the classic games that casinos had to offer, including poker, blackjack, roulette, and the ever-beloved slots.
Instead of having to drive all the way to Las Vegas to enjoy all the entertainment and thrills that casinos had to offer, Canadians were now able to instead visit local cities and make use of their casinos, and each one had all the luxury and activities to match even those casinos based in Las Vegas.
Online Casinos
It wouldn’t be until the late 1990s that the first online casinos were introduced to the world, and never before had the industry had such a massive explosion in popularity.
Software developers began releasing their own games, selling them to online casinos. Well-known casinos such as River Belle Casino by Microgaming became the standard of online casino gameplay, and Canadians were quick to adopt all the conveniences that online casinos had to offer.
Some years later, and mobile casinos and games were introduced into the market, becoming an instant hit across the country.
Today, it’s easy to find some of the latest and best games available simply by loading up your smart phone.