While poker has been played for nearly 200 years, the online version of the game is a recent phenomenon. Online poker has boomed in the past couple of years, and it has forever changed the face of poker.

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Other types of online gambling sites were launched significantly before the first online poker room. Online sportsbooks sprouted in the mid 90's. The mid 90's also witnessed the launch of online casinos. For example, Microgaming, a major online casino software supplier, developed its first operational online casino in 1994. 1

It was not until 1998 that the first online poker room was established. Planet Poker, which has since become a relatively small poker room, enjoyed the status as the sole online poker firm for a short period of time. While Planet Poker has since been overtaken by many other online poker rooms, the initial rake structure it set, 5% up to a $3 max rake, has been mirrored by other poker rooms. So while the industry has drastically changed since 1998, the rake structure has remained fairly constant.

Other online poker rooms soon entered the fray. Paradise Poker was established in 1999 and would soon become the industry leader. During this initial period of entry, the infamous case of Poker Spot occurred. Poker Spot was an online poker firm founded by Dutch Boyd, a successful poker player.

Poker Spot was launched in May 2000. In September of that year, it would become the first online poker room to offer tournaments. However, troubles soon plagued Poker Spot. According to Dutch Boyd, it was unable to collect player deposits from its credit card processing firm. Essentially, all of the money players deposited and played with was not in the system, so Poker Spot was unable to pay its players their winnings. The firm soon went under. 2

An incident like the Poker Spot case has so far not been repeated by any major online poker room. This is largely the result of the emergence of e-cash. In particular, Neteller has become the dominant funds transfer service for the online poker industry. Neteller has appeal for both users and online poker firms. For users, it allows them to deposit at a poker room without a credit card or wire transfer, and it also allows the user to generally receive quicker withdrawals. The online poker rooms like Neteller because it decreases fraud and has relatively modest fees for them.

It was not until 2001 that the two most dominant online poker firms entered the industry. Poker Stars became a popular destination because of its tournaments, and Party Poker made a splash in the industry.