The allure of gambling, Dear Reader, is as old as time. Imagine we are Bill and Ted. I am Keanu Reeves, and you are… well, the other one!? We’re going to step into this phone booth and go on an adventure through time. No way? Yes way! Excellent!
Did you know that gambling dates as far back as 230,000 years ago, when it was Neanderthal Man who first walked upright into a branch of Ladbrokes (and actually I think he still works in Corals on Tring High Street). Interestingly the brain of Neanderthal Man was some 12 per cent larger than of our brains today. It was also around this time that Tony McCoy first won the National Hunt Jockey Championship.
Archaeologists have discovered dice fashioned out of sheep bone that were weighted to fall in a certain way, suggesting that not only did Neanderthal Man enjoy a flutter, but that he was also inclined to cheat. Gambling became popular in ancient civilisations such as in Egypt, where archaeologists have unearthed dice dating back to 1500BC. Other artefacts such as boards and sticks have been found in Rome, Japan, India and China. Apparently John McCririck was dug up on the outskirts of Sidcup.
During the third century BC, it is known the Romans played a game called Tabula, which most people know today as backgammon. My father had a backgammon set, and I’ve no doubt he still has it. He taught me to play when I was younger, and the dice in the set were made from sandstone. He showed me how to throw them in a way such that Icould repeatedly throw certain numbers, with remarkable consistency. It’s all in the wrist you see.
In the Roman Empire, children were also encouraged to master the skill of throwing dice, and the popularity of Tabula reached Arabia. The Romans played not just for fun, but also for money. The stakes could often be very high with the winner selling an empty-handed loser into slavery. Imagine watching the odds-on favourite you’ve backed heavily in the 2:15 at Newbury, falling at the fifth, and before you know it, you’re on a ship bound for Persia!
Board games were evidently very important to the Egyptians, as many examples have been found in Egyptian tombs. They are thought to have preceded those games played by the Romans, and it became a part of the Egyptians’ religious culture to play the board game in order to secure a pleasant after-life. “Go to jail, do not pass Go, do NOT ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven!” However, as Christianity spread across Egypt, popular interest in board games was lost.
As long ago as the third millennium BC the Chinese played a game known as Wei-qi, which was believed to strengthen mental ability and character. Wei-qi’s popularity spread to Korea by 100AD and then on to Japan, where it was frowned upon – anyone caught playing the game was sentenced to one hundred days labour. In 900AD the Chinese were thought to have created the idea of shuffling money and cards, with the French accredited with creating the 52-card pack.
During the Middle Ages the popularity of gambling increased, and in the 14th century Henry VIII, who was himself a bit of a punter, outlawed gambling as he found it distracted his soldiers from their duties. In 1569, during the reign of Elizabeth I, the first British lottery took place. The very first winner refused publicity, and all we know is that the winning ticket was bought from a goat trader in St Albans. It was during the Revolutionary War that lotteries became a frequent method used to raise funds for the state.
Lotteries had grown significantly in the United States by the 18th and 19th centuries, and both money and gifts were offered up as prizes. After the Civil War, lotteries were wiped out, and in 1890 the fraudulent National Louisiana Lottery not only saw this practice outlawed but also created much public dislike for lotteries. Prohibition was hugely responsible for eradicating the betting and drinking culture.
In 1895, Charles Fey created the slot machine in San Francisco. In 1909 the City prohibited them, and Nevada and California followed suit. The 1930s saw attitudes towards gambling relaxed, with Nevada reintroducing slots and gambling on horseracing legalised.
How things have changed! Today, on-course betting, betting shops and telephone services saturate the market. Further expantion now sees many, many services available on the internet too. In 2000, the launch of Betfair completely revolutionised the whole betting experience, allowing the wannabe bookmaker to become just that. The downside however, is that with the convenience of internet betting and the availability of easy credit and free bet offers, gambling addiction has become a bigger problem.
And we’re back in 2009. Hope you enjoyed that mini-adventure. If you could go back in time, to be there ‘live’ to watch any horse race in history, where would you go? Leave a comment below.
