Gambling History

According to historical records and archeological evidence, gambling has existed throughout the ages and culture of most civilizations. Anthropologists agree that data collected in the 20th century lends solid implications that gambling took place within a large portion of the greatest societies to have ever existed. For example, gambling artifacts have been recovered from ancient China (2300 B.C.), India, Egypt and Rome. A set of ivory dice dating from before 1500 BC were salvaged from Thebes, while specific writings mentioning gambling were found on a tablet in the Pyramid of Cheops. As early as the 14th century, we have some of the first findings of gambling becoming outlawed; King Henry VIII of England did so when he discovered that his soldiers were spending more time gambling than working on drills and marksmanship. During antiquity, the Greek and Roman nobility went to spas to rest their body and enjoy time by gaming. With the expansion of the Roman Empire the spa towns expanded as well as related gambling activities. From the Middle Ages to the 18th century gambling activities moved from the exclusive spa resorts to become part of the social life of the urban rich and famous. Governments then started to regulate all gaming activities to preserve the-man-in-the-street's solvency they relied upon. Card games and dices were particularly "en vogue" at that time. The Rummy, 19th century engraving. In 1626 in Venice (Italy, Europe) a public gambling house was legalized for the first time. Soon the high Venetian society met in so called little houses or "casini" to indulge in everything from business dealings, politics, gambling and more carnival pleasures. The word "Casino" became synonymous with vice and perdition. Taking Venice as a model, gambling houses spread in many spa resorts throughout Europe. The most famous of all would give its name to the concept : Spa in Belgium where the casino activity has been officially recognized in the 17th century. Gambling houses became an official, organized and legal activity, patronized by the European aristocracy and bourgeoisie. After the fall into disgrace of Venice, Spa boomed with new casinos, new games, longer opening hours (up to 12 hours a day) while casinos also thrived in France, Germany and England. The 19th century marked the official legalization of casinos by Napoleon in 1806. Casinos introduced security, high standard, quality service, comfort, luxury; managers started to restrict access to a selected clientele. The myth of casino was born with stories of successes, heavy losses, bankruptcies, suicides, noble attitudes, fortunes made and lost overnight. Gambling became a fashionable hobby and casinos places to be and to be seen , a showcase of the rich and famous wealth. In 1837, all casinos in France were declared illegal. By opposition, in Germany, they prospered like in Baden-Baden, Wiesbaden or Bad-Homburg where for the first time chips were used as the instruments to wager. Casinos innovated with the introduction of the first single-zero roulette table. In 1860, Monaco (Europe) was in great financial troubles when a man named François Blanc proposed to open a casino to overcome. Three years later, the "Société des Bains de Mer" (SBM) was created with the opening of the casino. This became the most famous and glamorous gambling place on earth, Monte-Carlo. The British aristocracy soon discovered the French Riviera for its winter holidays and Monte-Carlo for gambling thrills. New rooms were opened in the casinos, higher limits were introduced, fortunes were made and ended every day; in 1899, "salons privés" (private rooms) were opened with unlimited bets. In Asia, gambling "dens" started operating in China, Saigon (Vietnam) and Macao where casinos opened as early as 1850. In 1962 when the "Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macao" won the monopoly for the casino licenses, Macao became a gambling empire within Asia. In the United States of America, after a brief attempt to legalize gambling on the riverboats of Louisiana in 1890, the end of the Prohibition in 1932 led to the extensive development of illegal gambling "joints" with the exception of the State of Nevada where gambling was legalized in 1931. Benjamin Siegel, alias "Bugsy", would be the leading proponent of the modern Las Vegas we all know today as the "World's Entertainment Capital". When America became an independent country in 1776, the newly formed, needy government used gambling as a way to cultivate large sums of money for its early activities. When it got out of control in the raucous days of the western frontier, Nevada actually made it illegal from 1850 to 1910. However, it was re-sanctioned in 1931, and Las Vegas began its rise as the greatest gambling phenomenon of the world.