Evolution of Online Casinos in the US

It’s official: online casinos are a huge craze in the US.

Now, according to Statista, the number of users in the online casino market is expected to keep growing and reach a staggering 50.3m by 2029.

This growth will be driven largely by the current big-name online casinos, ranging from BetMGM to Caesars. Every day, these sites get thousands of new sign-ups — and people in the US are jumping at the opportunity to play.

Online casinos aren’t a new phenomenon, though. Sure, the list of operators to choose from today is endless, but it wasn’t like this in the ‘90s. Back then, there were very few online casinos to choose from and even those weren’t particularly popular. But in the decades since, an incredible ‘online casino revolution’ has taken place.

The journey of online casinos in the US has been interesting.

Let’s rewind the clock to 1993. The ‘World Wide Web’ officially launched into the public domain, which inspired a whole new generation of people to buy their first ever computers. In response to this, a company called MicroGaming, who are still popular today, decided to launch ‘Gaming Club Casino’, the first ever online casino. It was quite clunky and didn’t feature many games, but it was ultimately the spark that lit the fire.

Throughout the rest of the ‘90s and early 2000s, lots of new online casinos followed, including InterCasino and 888Casino. Suddenly, people no longer had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to gamble or play their favorite casino games. Instead, they could simply hop on their computers, sign-up, and start playing. Not only was it an exciting concept, but it was also highly innovative, as nobody had seen anything like it before.

Online casinos continued to be popular throughout the 2000s, with a further spike in users caused by the ‘Poker Boom’ from 2003 to 2006. During this time period, no-limit Texas Hold’Em and other online versions of this classic game caused online casinos to grow even more, with countless people entering tournaments in an attempt to win as much money as possible.

By the time the 2010s rolled around, mobile gaming was starting to pick up steam. Naturally, this led to the next evolution of online casinos: mobile casinos. Instead of playing on their computers, people were now starting to transition to mobile and tablet casinos, as many of the popular online casinos at the time had started optimizing their sites for mobile usage. And by the time 2013 came to an end, over one hundred online casinos were officially mobile-friendly.

2020 saw the COVID-19 pandemic strike, which meant almost the entire world was locked down. Unsurprisingly, people were bored out of their minds at home and needed some entertainment to stay occupied, so millions of them joined online gambling sites. This was great news for the likes of FanDuel and DraftKings, who experienced a huge influx of new users looking to play their different casino games. It was also great for sweepstakes casinos, too, which are a different type of online casino that have attracted lots of attention over recent years.

Sweepstakes Casinos — A New Dawn for Online Casinos?

Every decade, the online casino industry evolves as new trends arrive and old trends fade away. Over the past five years in particular, sweepstakes casinos have been the red-hot trend, with the likes of WOW Vegas, McLuck, and Vegas Gems all attracting millions of sign-ups. The main reason behind this is because unlike traditional online casinos, sweepstakes casinos are legally available in almost every state because of the simple fact they use virtual coins — not real money.

Sweepstakes casino expert Mike Fatouros from SweepsKings has provided his thoughts on this:

“Sweepstakes casinos have recently shaken up the industry. Now, people from pretty much every state in the US can access them, which isn’t the case with traditional online casinos. Could this be a game-changer? Possibly. The next few years could see most players switch to sweepstakes casinos instead, which would mark a new era for the industry.”

Most Popular Online Casinos in the US

All these years later and online casinos have never been more popular in the US, with over 200+ US casino operators available to choose from. Outside of FanDuel and DraftKings, some of the most popular sites include:

⭐ BetMGM

⭐ Caesars

⭐ Stake.us

⭐ PokerStars

⭐ BetRivers

Interestingly, all of these online casinos are significantly different compared to the casinos from the ‘90s and early 2000s. Now, people get to enjoy fully fledged casino platforms that come jam-packed with exciting features, making the online casinos from the past look extremely dated. Whether you join BetMGM or Stake.us, some of the features you can look forward to enjoying are:

✅ Hundreds of casino games to choose from

✅ Welcome bonuses and special offers

✅ Loyalty programs

✅ High-quality gameplay

✅ Fast and responsive user interfaces

On top of this, the software developers in the iGaming space, such as Pragmatic Play and SoftSwiss, are continuously innovating. For example, back in 2015, Big Time Gaming developed the ‘Megaways’ slot mechanic, providing players with thousands more ways to win when they play online slots. Since then, countless slots have incorporated the Megaways mechanic, which is now viewed as one of the most iconic creations to come from the online casino industry.

Not to mention, most of today’s online casinos are also available in app form, too. All you have to do is load the iOS or Android app store, search for the online casino you like, and hit the download button. This is now the standard way to play, with most people preferring the app ‘experience’ compared to the traditional browser gameplay.

Where Are Online Casinos Legal in the US?

Over the past decade, more states have changed their laws regarding online gambling. Now, online casinos are officially legal in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, which has helped the online casino industry grow significantly throughout the country. And the players who live in different states are also able to access online casinos using a VPN, so the industry is truly booming. The only catch is that they must be above the legal gambling age, which is either 18 or 21 in the US.

The Future of US Online Casinos

Online casinos are big business in the US. Millions of players have now signed up with different sites and the tax revenue is huge, so there’s plenty of incentive for more states to start legalizing them over the coming years. When you throw the rise of sweepstakes casinos on top of this, too, it’s clear to see that online casinos are going to be around for decades to come, with experts predicting that the industry will continue to thrive in a time where online gambling is now widely embraced.