A quick scan through the history of gambling reveals the amazing advancements made in the gambling industry over the years. It is impossible to say this is where gambling began. From the meaning of gambling which is to place a bet on someone in the hope of writing, humans began gambling before written history.
Before the period of the land-based casinos or online casino sites such as Casinobernie, gambling existed. It is not far from the truth to argue that gambling is as old as man. Everything man created was at a point a gamble.
Brief History of Gambling
There is archaeological evidence that points to the fact that the earliest caveman played gambling games. Archaeologists made findings of gambling games such as dice-liked objects dating tens of thousands of years ago.
The Chinese are the closest to the tag of ‘Founders of Gambling’ with their invention of a game called tiles in around 2300 B.C. It was a pure game of chance. The famous Greek civilization added its magical touch with Greek soldiers playing ‘illegal’ dice games as far back as 1100. Gambling games were popular in ancient Egypt and Rome.
In ancient Rome, the carriage of an Emperor got redesigned to accommodate gambling. There was also a law permitting children to learn how to gamble and through dice during the reign of the Roman Empire.
If you had at any point suffered from gambling addiction, it’s not a new occurrence. As far back as the 14th century, English soldiers spending so much time on gambling than they were practicing their fighting skills. King Henry VIII had to outlaw it for that reason.
Native Americans whom the new settlers (people who migrated from Europe to the New World) chased away from their lands had a culture of gambling. Native Americans wagered possessions and played dice games.
Origin of Card Games
If you are a lover of card games, the game started in ancient China in the 9th century AD. Around the 6th century A.D, Koreans invented their own card game called ‘silk arrows’. The game shares striking similarities with the tarot card games such as blackjack and poker. It is difficult to ascertain if that was only its use, evidence points out to their use as a currency.
The Earliest Casino Game
The Baccarat is the earliest casino game in the world. It is still an attractive gambling option and attracts players. The two-player card game got mentioned first in the 1400s. The game spread from Italy and France to other areas of Europe.
The baccarat played then is very difficult from the one played today. If you have the opportunity to play the old game, you won’t recognize it as today’s baccarat.
First Gambling Room
Italy holds a special place in the history of modern gambling. The first gambling houses appeared in Italy in the 17th century. The move to gambling houses was to organize the chaotic nature of gambling, especially during the annual carnival season. The type of gambling games available where the biribi (lottery) and basetta (mix of poker and blackjack).
Las Vegas
The history of gambling is not complete without mentioning Las Vegas. Originally, the early settlers in the United States banned gambling. There wasn’t any mechanism put in place to enforce the ban properly so gambling continued. It took the Stock Exchange Crash in the late 1920s for gambling to gain legal status.
The first casino house built was the Pair-o-Dice Club in 1931 and the first casino resort was El Rancho Vegas in 1941 with 63 rooms! The early casinos were a roaring success and this attracted public interest, both good and bad. Criminals such as Busy Siegel got interested in the potentials of the casino market, leading to the opening of other casino resorts such as Desert Inn and Flamingo between 1946-1950. In the 19th and 20th centuries, land-based casinos boomed with many resorts created in that period.
Online Casinos
With the invention of the internet in the second half of the 20th century, it was only about time before gambling went online. Microgaming, a popular online gaming software provider developed the makings of online gambling software in the mid-1990s.
Today, the popularity of online gambling is huge and growing. There are hundreds of online casinos online offering the same services the land-based casino offers. Some example of top online gambling sites includes 888 Casino, 22Bet, Bet385, and LeoVegas.
The sheer number of online casino games available online is mouthwatering and a haven for players. Gambling is now an international industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Some of the online casino games that players can enjoy include roulette, slotsblackjack, and poker.
Another developed worth taking note of is the development of gambling games for mobile phones. It is crucial because more people use the internet through their phones.
Conclusion
Gambling has come a long way from its raw form in Ancient China. The industry is extremely adaptable to trends and technologies and uses them to grow even stronger.