The Jurisdictions

The online gambling industry started with the software companies. They developed casino games that could be played remotely for real cash. They then supplied the games to multiple operators who would market the games to a world-wide audience.  Everyone’s a winner.

However, running an online gambling system required a lot of touchy hardware (cloud servers did not exist then) and even touchier personnel to maintain it all.

So, they needed a safe place to house the servers as well as the personnel. For that, you need a legal entity (at least one), with a bank account, which could operate in a location which didn’t mind too much what you did.

Remember; until 1994, remote gambling as a concept did not exist. There were no laws  specifically written to prohibit online gambling.

OK… there was the US Wire Act of 1961. However, that was aimed at curbing organized crime, not at foreign gambling operators.  So, it was not generally applicable to online gambling.

The US government would address the issue somewhat later with the passing of the the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. The act specifically targeted the financial transactions associated with online gambling. This was initially very effective and was the ruin of many a US facing operator.

Finding a suitable location depended on finding a gambling friendly jurisdiction, with good internet connections, located not too far from the US. You also needed banking, a nice office, good housing, and a generally favourable atmosphere. Oh… and tax ‘efficient’ at the same time would be good. Thank you.

Antigua seemed to tick all of these boxes.

Amazingly, all of the ‘Big Four’ software companies got their start in Antigua. Microgaming was first and set up shop in 1994, Cryptologic in 1996, Boss Media in 1997 and Playtech in 1999.

How was that possible? Was that just a coincidence?