Online gambling is any type of gambling conducted via the internet. This includes casinos, online poker and virtual casinos. The first online gambling site open to the public, was online ticketing for the world’s largest and most sophisticated lottery event, the Lotto Max International lottery in 1994.
In today’s online gambling world you can play for money at an online casino, play for fun in one of the many games or even participate in betting exchanges where you wager your own money on which horse or other item will come first in a certain category, such as Handicapping, Popularity, Payouts and Betting Trends. Some online casinos also offer payment options other than cash such as credit cards, e-checks and money transfers. There are also sites that offer incentives to new members who will receive free bonuses, reduced stakes or special gaming opportunities.
In the United States, online gambling is regulated by the laws of the states where the online poker operators have their casinos. There are also at least two national organizations that have formed, one is the Interactive Gaming Business Association (IGBA) and the other is the Commission on License and Certification of Agencies and Brokers (CLEB). The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission is the regulatory bodies responsible for overseeing all U.S. licensed online gambling operators. Both the Internet Poker Tracking System (ITRS) and the Compromise Agreement Implementation Service (CAIBS) are bodies that the states require to perform verification and records before issuing licenses to online poker operators in the United States.