HISTORY OF GAMBLING
Why have humans
throughout history gambled? What
explains the recent
explosion of gambling ?
The history of humanity is
inextricably linked with the history of gambling, as it seems that no matter
how far back in time you go there are signs that where groups of people
gathered together gambling was sure to have been taking place.
When you talk about gambling
usually your mind goes to casinos, baccarat, roulette, lottery, dice etc. But
have you ever thought about when or how gambling first originating? The fact is that some forms of gambling have
existed in virtually the same form for thousands of years.
There‘s a lot of evidence that
gambling games existed in ancient times. From tiles found in China dating from
2300 BC and ivory dice found in Egypt from 1500 BC to gambling paraphernalia
belonging to Bronze Age Greek soldiers, it’s clear that gambling is as old as
civilization itself. While it is almost certain that some forms of betting have
been taking place since the dawn of human history, the earliest concrete
evidence comes from Ancient China where tiles were unearthed which appeared to have
been used for a rudimentary game of chance. The Chinese ‘Book of Songs’ makes
reference to “the drawing of wood” which suggests that the tiles may have
formed part of a lottery type game. We have evidence in the form of keno slips
which were used in about 200bc as some sort of lottery to fund state works –
possibly including construction of the Great Wall of China. Lotteries continued
to be used for civic purposes throughout history – Harvard and Yale were both
established using lottery funds – and continue to do so until the present day.
The Greek poet Sophocles claimed
that dice were invented by a mythological hero during the siege of Troy, and
while this may have somewhat dubious basis in fact, his writings around 500bc
were the first mention of dice in Greek history. We know that dice existed far
earlier than this, since a pair had been uncovered from an Egyptian tomb from
3000bc, but what is certain is that the Ancient Greeks and Romans loved to
gamble on all manner of things, seemingly at any given opportunity. In fact all
forms of gambling – including dice games – were forbidden within the ancient
city of Rome and a penalty imposed on those caught which was worth four times
the stake being bet. As a result of this, ingenious Roman citizens invented the
first gambling chips, so if they were nabbed by the guards they could claim to
be playing only for chips and not for real money.
Gambling in the old days was a little different to your
average trip to Vegas, with everything from rocks, sticks and bones being used
as ‘chips’, but there is evidence of the first playing cards being used in
China around the 9th Century AD. They then spread through Asia, and Mahjong
tiles and dominos evolving later. Playing cards then traveled to Egypt and
ultimately Europe in the 14th century, with a 52-card deck becoming standard at
that time as well.
Some suggest that the earliest
forms of blackjack came from a Spanish game called ventiuna (21) as this game
appeared in a book written by the author of Don Quixote in 1601. Or was it the
game of trente-un (31) from 1570? Or even quinze (15) from France decades
earlier? As with all of these origin stories, the inventors of games of chance
were rarely noted in the historical annals. The French game of vingt-et-un in
the seventeenth century is certainly a direct forefather of the modern game,
and this is the game that arrived in the US along with early settlers from
France. The name ‘blackjack’ was an American innovation, and linked to special
promotions in Nevada casinos in the 1930s. To attract extra customers, 10 to 1
odds were paid out if the player won with a black Jack of Clubs or Spades
together with an Ace of Spades. The special odds didn’t last long, but the name
is still with us today.
The earliest gambling houses
which could reasonably be compared to casinos started to appear in the early
17th century in Italy. For example, in 1638, the Ridotto was established in
Venice to provide a controlled gambling environment amidst the chaos of the
annual carnival season. Casinos started to spring up all over continental
Europe during the 19th century, while at the same time in the US much more
informal gambling houses were in vogue. In fact steam boats taking prosperous
farmers and traders up and down the Mississippi provided the venue for a lot of
informal gambling stateside. Now when we think of casinos we tend to picture
the Las Vegas Strip, which grew out of the ashes of the Depression in America.
Roulette as we know it today
originated in the gaming houses of Paris, where players would have been
familiar with the wheel we now refer to (ironically enough) as the American
Roulette wheel. It took another 50 years until the ‘European’ version came
along with just one green zero, and generations of roulette players can be
grateful for that. During the course of the 19th century roulette grew in
popularity, and when the famous Monte Carlo casino adopted the single zero form
of the game this spread throughout Europe and most of the world, although the
Americans stuck to the original double zero wheels.
It’s hard to pin down the precise
origin of poker – as with a lot of the games mentioned here, poker seems to
have grown organically over decades and possibly centuries from various
different card games. Some have poker’s antecedents coming from seventeenth
century Persia, while others say that the game we know today was inspired by a
French game called Poque. What we do know for sure is that an English actor by
the name of Joseph Crowell reported that a recognizable form of the game was
being played in New Orleans in 1829, so that is as good a date as any for the
birth of poker. The growth of the game’s popularity was fairly sluggish up
until world poker tournaments started being played in Vegas in the 1970s.
However poker really exploded with the advent of online poker and televised
events allowing spectators to see the players’ hands. When amateur player Chris
Moneymaker qualified for and won the 2003 world poker championship after
qualifying through online play, it allowed everyone to picture themselves as
online poker millionaires.
The first slot machine was
developed in the late 1800s, with three spinning reels and five symbols.
Gamblers quickly saw the benefits of such machines, and they were being mass
produced for saloons and corner markets in the early 1900s. As brick-and-mortar
casinos became more and more popular, the range of games expanded, offering
both traditional table and card games to the new slot machines, and casinos
became what they are today - billion dollar businesses. From the Las Vegas to
Macau, land-based casinos still pull in the gamblers and make fortunes.
Society's view of gambling has
also gone through an amazing metamorphosis during the last century. There was a
time when society viewed gambling as a manifestation of the devil. Morally
deemed a sin, it was also an illegal activity, serious enough to warrant time
in prison.
On the surface, gambling has
presented a glamorous and exciting lifestyle. Although gambling was associated
with the rich and the sophisticated, it was also strongly linked to loose
morals and organized crime. Related to every kind of excess, gambling had a
seedy reputation and, perhaps, that was the appeal. And while this combination
of glamour and seediness generated real excitement in people looking for a way
to let loose, gambling, as an activity, was still viewed primarily as a vice.
During the 1950's, society
entered what some might call the Las Vegas era. It was the time of the Rat Pack
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. Unlike today,
when the nearest gaming site might be as close as your local convenience store,
legal forms of gambling were confined to what the travel industry designated as
destination resort centres. During this time, society exhibited, if not a
change in attitude, then a grudging acceptance.
In recent times, however, we have
seen a dramatic shift in the manner that society views gambling and how it is
delivered. It is now promoted as just another form of adult entertainment and
is readily accessible to most citizens.
Since New Jersey legalized online
gambling in 2011, there has been a boom in the interest people have in it.
America has seen a move towards legalizing it state by state, as well as
experiencing the rapid rise in mobile gambling. Across the globe, internet
users are gradually veering away from their desktops and towards their handheld
devices. This is true of online gamblers too, wanting to be able to enjoy their
favorite games whilst on the go. The top gambling sites out there have
recognized a market and have stepped up to deliver. With a wave of impressive
mobile focused online gambling destinations taking the world by storm, it's
safe to say that desktops are being left far behind in favour of more mobile
alternatives.
SOURCE:https://popculture.knoji.com/the-history-of-gambling-ritual-beginnings/
SOURCE:http://www.gambling.net/history/
SOURCE:https://www.problemgambling.ca/EN/AboutGamblingandProblemGambling/Pages/HistoryOfGambling.aspx
SOURCE:http://www.onlinegambling.org/history.php
SOURCE:http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/gambling-ancient-civilizations-00931
SOURCE:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_card
SOURCE:http://luciovoicesofvegas.weebly.com/first-casinos.html
SOURCE:http://www.casinonewsdaily.com/slots-guide/types-slot-machines/
that? Well who knows, but when it comes to gambling all things are possible.
