"Gambling is a principle inherent in human nature," says Edmund Burke, the legendary Irish author and philosopher.
Let's admit it! We all love gambling! Actually, it is scientific fact that our bodies release dopamine, a feel-great neurotransmitter, which our hunter-gatherer ancestors felt when they finally caught the chase. Therefore, we are wired to feel this fantastic pleasure of winning for thousands of years. The emotion has always been there, whether it is a deer for the night or a Poker hand won with a Royal Flush.
In an obtuse aspect, everything we do is a type of gambling in our humble daily routine. Should you invest in Ethereum? Which brand is better for Smart TVs? Becoming a parent? Even the marriage is itself. We constantly bet on odds even when we are not aware of them.
This subordinating conjunction has led to betting on the strongest gladiator in Colosseum, the knight honouring the King in the Middle Age, and the fastest horse in Newmarket in the 17th century. Feeling it in our bones created a tremendous gambling market over centuries.
In this article, we will cast light upon the history of gambling to tell the journey of gambling through centuries, going hand in hand with our kind.
OK! To be honest, as a 200,000 years old modern Homo Sapiens, it is almost impossible to point to the very first gambling game in human history. Yet, we can draw an estimated picture of Ancient China or Greece, placing keno-like games for civic purposes. Although it may sound unreal, just like the 21st century, these lotteries operated by higher authorities aimed to fund and develop the state works.
The latest findings show that our ancestors in China used to play a lottery-like game to sponsor monuments such as fountains and The Great Wall of China. Excavations brought some metal tiles dated back to 2300 BC to the sunlight. Archaeologists agree that they were the initial forms of lottery tickets. Is China the answer to "Where did gambling originate from?". To be frank, the answer is a bit more perplexing than this.
When we travel to Ancient Greece, it is possible to come across a pretty intriguing anecdote considered to be a cornerstone in the casino gambling history. What is the first implement that you visualise when you think of gambling? Yes! A dice! The legendary Greek tragedian Sophocles claimed that Palamedes created the forerunner dice during the siege of Troy. However, another brilliant Greek Historian, Herodotus, underlines the Lydians invented it.
In one way or another, these bone or ivory precursors were not used for gambling but to predict the mighty future of the people and kingdoms. Moreover, they were not coming as modern dice shapes. Some of them had pyramid shapes, while others may have 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, and 20 or more sides. Actually, modern-style cubical dice with markings were found in Chinese excavations dated 600 BC. It is also likely to be seen in the first written records of the Mahabharata, an ancient Sanskrit epic older than 2,000 years.
What about gambling chips? Their history is based on our essential survival ability, adaptation. Gambling was the most loved activity of the lower class and was a kind of socialisation in Ancient Greece and the Roman. Expectedly, the higher authorities were not delighted with this uncontrollable and non-taxable asset flow. They forbid all types of gambling in Rome. The penalty was four times the stake being bet. Therefore, Roman citizens invented the first gambling chips to claim the bet was only for chips rather than real money when the guards caught them.
It is better to define gambling to clear the clouds in order to step forward to the question of "What was the first form of gambling?". Briefly, gambling is the wagering of a value (the stakes) on an event with an uncertain outcome while the bettor is entirely conscious of the risks. Gambling has three elements: risk (chance), an amount to risk, and a prize.
The medium of gambling can appear in thousands of ways. A roll of dice, a royal flush hand in poker, a greyhound crossing the finish line, or a football player scoring the first goal. Moreover, besides at-the-moment bets, the outcomes of future song contests such as Eurovision, an entire sports season, coming elections, and the two finalists of a tennis tournament are also inside betting.
In this perspective, maybe the one who brought gambling to the world was an emperor organising lottery-like luck games to fund the shrines he desired to dedicate to the previous pharaoh, Ramesses II. Maybe she was just a Viking warrior taking out a long 4-sided bone dice to play Taflkast after a bloody day. Or a sweaty gladiator in the Colosseum betting on his own life against a fierce lioness. We will never know! Because lording it over, adrenaline addiction and chilling out were always in our human nature.
What do we have until this point in our article? The first lottery tickets, the invention of dice, and gambling chips. Something is missing. Right? When did they invent playing cards? Where did the 52-card-deck appear? The sine qua non item of gambling got on the stage in Europe in the late 14th century. The concept was adopted from the Islamic Mamlūk dynasty through the Italian or Spanish merchants in Egypt.
These European cards were entirely hand-painted by the most known craftsman and became luxury goods for the wealthy in the early 17th century. Painted by stencils for years, these cards began to have a design of suit marks as pique, coeur, carreau, and trèfle in French, known in English as spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs.
The invention of playing cards brought us to a new era where the game types expanded tremendously and independently. A myriad of card games with playing cards was invented in the following century, and the history of casino gambling was about to bloom.
We see Italy's first casinos or gambling houses in the middle of the 17th century. The Ridotto was the first known gambling house, established in the beautiful city of Venice, Italy. The Great Council of Venice fully regulated the operations of Ridotto to maintain gambling under control during the carnival season. Unfortunately, the same council closed it in 1774, claiming its malicious activities affected the local gentry.
Have you ever seen The Cardsharps, a famous painting by the genius Italian painter Caravaggio? This breathtaking painting gives the spirit of gambling in new-age Italy. Although the boys in the frame are dressed expensively, the century welcomed betting as an essential part of state economies more than a simple backstreet low-class gathering. The card games were not a symbol of poverty; however, it was an indispensable social activity in palatial mansions of Italy.
Meanwhile, the gambling games expanded into the continent of America. As we watch in every Western movie, in America, early gambling establishments were saloons in major cities like Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans, and St. Louis. These were the bar-like places where passing travellers socialised and often gambled with others. Although gambling was outlawed at the beginning of the 20th century by the US legislation government, gambling made a bright return legally throughout the state of Nevada.
In a nutshell, sports betting is the activity of predicting sports outcomes and placing a wager on the possible results. It is hard to specify a particular time as the ground zero of the history of sports gambling. Yet, many historians claim that horse racing is the oldest way of betting on sports, whereas some believe the gladiatorial contests were the initial forms of sports betting.
What about the Olympic Games held every four years in the most radiant days of Ancient Greece? These ancient games are called the Olympics due to the small Greek village, Olympia. The touchstone of regulated and organised sports events, the Olympic games, can be accepted as the first legalised betting in history. Moreover, the Olympic games are also important as a pioneer source for many sports, including the long jump, wrestling, discus throw, javelin throw, chariot races, the pentathlon, boxing, and the pankration, which is a combination of wrestling and boxing.
Every country has its own sports selection shaped by its history, culture, geographical position, weather conditions and the countries they are exposed to. For instance, colder countries like Canada, Iceland, and Switzerland primarily focus on Ice Hockey and winter games, whereas warmer regions are more apt to have outdoor sports such as Cricket, Football, Field Hockey, Swimming, and Tennis.
India not only has the most beautiful landscapes and a massive cultural diversity besides being the cradle of many gorgeous civilisations, but it is also the home of forerunners of many card games and sports. Unique sports and casino games like Chess, Polo, Judo and Karate, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Kabaddi, Badminton, Poker, Teen Patti, Rummy, Bluff, and Bridge are originated here. Therefore, it would be accurate to say that India has always been the birthplace of creative games as well as outstanding cultures.
As the most loved sport in India for decades, Cricket Betting has always been the apple of an eye. Cricket enthusiasts have been betting on Cricket games for a couple of centuries through bookies. It is known that the most favourable game to place wagers on was Cricket in the British Raj period century. Another famous Indian game is Kabaddi, with a 4000-year-old history and has its own Pro Kabaddi League followed by millions when the season starts.
Regarding India-originated card games, due to their simple and enjoyable game sets, Teen Patti and Indian Rummy are the ones that take great attention worldwide. Most brick-and-mortar casinos place these games in their casino lobby with professional croupiers.
Yes! India enchants many casino and sports betting lovers through its massive game options. Plus, based on India's excessive population and high demand for gambling, a vast number of betting companies desire to take their slice of this tasty pie.
Indeed, the Internet connection is a revolutionary change in our daily routine. There are no limits on location or time. We can reach everything we desire in a couple of minutes. Online gambling is not an exception. Today, there is a plethora of gambling products available, from online Cricket betting to Slot games, from Teen Patti to Formula-1. All you need to do is create a real-money account on one of the trustworthy websites and load some cash in.
The first online gambling website was launched under the name of Planet Poker in 1998. Between 2003 and 2006, the internet was filled with online poker rooms. This Poker Boom effect maintained its growth until 2011. Then, a "Black Friday" catastrophe occurred, and the federal authorities unsealed the most extensive poker websites: Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. When the hurricane finally settled down, the online gambling industry came out with a clever and avant-garde idea: Gaming Licences.
Today, all reliable online casinos and sportsbooks hold a valid licence from a known regulatory authority such as UK Gambling Commission, Malta Gaming Authority, or Curaçao E-gaming licence. Whether it is a sports betting site or a comprehensive online casino, any establishment serving gambling products is under the obligation to be licensed to operate legally.
All in all, the long gambling journey teaches us a lot about our history. The history of gambling sums up the diversity in civilisations, the harmony of human nature with what is new, and how creative our brains can become when there is adrenaline at the end of the road. What is waiting for us now? Will we start running in Augmented Reality or bet on sports in Metaverse? What will be the medium in the future is a mystery, yet we apparently enjoy the ride and always will.
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