The origins of gambling are very old. Despite the fact that today when one hears about betting immediately one thinks of the best online casinos, slot machines, roulette, poker and lotteries (as you can learn more about thanks to the various gambling articles) it is necessary to take a step back in history to know when gambling became part of the habits of various peoples.
Gambling in the ancient age
A valuable way to better understand everything about a subject is to study its history. Consulting the past opens up a new vision. Looking at the origins games of chance, the betting industry turned out to be much simpler than those we know in the present world. Some of the main data on this dates back to the 18th century B.C., in China. In those years people liked to bet through tiles.
Archaeological findings dating back to the time of the Egyptians (15th century B.C.) have shown their interest in making bets with dice. For one thing, we know that it is not possible to define precisely when this practice began to circulate in various societies. Gambling origins have not always left tangible evidence, so it is easy to think that they may be much older than we think.
Still talking about gambling origins let us instead move to the period of Ancient Rome. As much before as now, gambling was condemned and prosecuted by law. For reasons of public order it was forbidden to gamble goods or money. Yet this did not stop people from placing their bets. This activity was loved by all ancient Romans, regardless of their class. In particular, the game of dice was liked and people were able to spend huge sums of money on it.
However, other games were also popular, such as guessing whether the number of pebbles hidden in the fist were even or odd. And it was at the time of the Romans that the game of heads or tails was created, a manner very similar to today’s.
Gambling in the Middle Ages
Regarding the origins gambling during the Middle Ages there is to know that it was practiced almost everywhere. Gamblers belonged to any social class because any person loved to have fun and participate in an event or party, without being the victim of any prejudice from others. Yet the act of betting was mostly done in taverns and to try their luck and odds even people of ill repute and prostitutes.
It happened that in medieval times people made their bets under arcades, loggias and even street corners. It remains true, however, that as was the case during the gambling origins, the law took a dim view of every such event. Throughout the cities of Italy in the 13th century, ecclesiastical institutions prohibited gambling with money because it could lead to a person’s complete ruin.
The church had made gambling illegal because the high probability for a person to lose money and the actual loss of material possessions made the individual furious, and it was widespread that this failure to overcome gambling losses led to blasphemy and consequently to the wrath of God. The most widely practiced games of chance in the Italian state turned out to be those with dice or pawns. Later came those with cards. Games where the probability of winning turned out to be tied to luck and not to people’s skills.
Origins gambling: The barter and how it originated
During the Middle Ages we trace the origin structured gambling. Professional gamblers, known as barters, were at first on the fringes of society. A few centuries later here they organized themselves into underground gambling dens at first and later made arrangements with the authorities.
The structure took the name of Barterhouse and they were organized events where other professionals or casual players could place their bets with money using dice.
The barters were brought together in societies and there was a leader with specific duties who had to follow the contract made with the municipality, who had a number of powers by law, such as:
- Carrying one or more weapons
- Reporting those who blasphemed
- To denounce if the game was practiced outside the Barattery
- Being the judge during disputes
The modern age and the birth of the first casino
The first gambling house actually originated in Italy, in the city of Venice. The first ones in fact appeared in 1638 along the Grand Canal. It is now known as the Venice Casino.
Its architecture is of patrician-Renaissance type and at the present time it is famous all over the planet. We can know from information about the history of the first casino that no expense was spared for the decor. The purpose was to recreate an environment capable of emanating luxury.
Very strict rules were established from the very beginning, starting with the dress code for entering the casino, aimed at attracting all upper-class customers and complied with what are now considered the standards of a gambling house. It remained open until the 18th century, and afterwards for many years closed as gambling was proclaimed illegal.
The second most famous casino on the planet, among the first to be established, is the one in Monte Carlo. In fact, it is the second oldest on the planet, built in Monaco (a small French state) in 1863.
Las Vegas and the contemporary age
For several decades now, there have been many countries around the world that have legalized gambling. Today either in physical casinos, such as those in Las Vegas, or online casino sites, you can make your bets in this way freely.
A player can sign up at an online casino site and make his or her bets for real money by taking advantage of a device with an Internet connection. The most popular games of the contemporary period are poker, French roulette, and card games in general.
Thousands of Slot Machine and French roulette rooms. Notably, it was in 1964 that the Flamingo Hotel was born, the first hotel casino contributing to the legend of the place.
Gaining worldwide fame has been the city of Las Vegas. Thus, since the legalization of gambling in Nevada took place in 1931 here is how the city in question became like a playground for adult gambling lovers.