The History of Gambling: From Ancient Times to Online Casinos

During the last few years, we've noticed how gambling has become more and more prevalent in the news, advertisements, and culture as well. Despite what you might expect, this isn't just a recent trend – gambling has been around since the earliest stages of our civilization, and it is only reasonable to see it eventually get to this level of popularity.

Today we'll guide you through the most exciting steps of gambling history with the help of Slot Day team experts.

Early History

Archaeologists date the earliest six-sided dice found in Mesopotamia to 3000 BCE, although these dice were predated by astragali – a form of dice divination that existed thousands of years before that. Surprisingly enough, the first gambling activities were performed somewhat backward: ancient people used to cast marked sticks or other objects trying to predict the future, not to get a reliably unpredictable outcome for gameplay purposes.

We know for a fact that Ancient Egypt and Ancient China had laws and punishments created specifically to target gamblers. In 1898 author John Ashton mentioned three games of skill that were popular among Egyptians: the Game of Robbers, the Game of the Bowl, and Draughts. Archaeologists have found game boards and pieces at the ancient city of Ur, dated from about 3000 to 2500 BC.

China and Japan probably used games of skill as betting events, and it is assumed that these nations, as well as India, provided the skill element of play, while the ancient Jews and Arabs added chance to the mix.

Anthropologists suggest that gambling was generally more common in societies with a widespread belief in gods and spirits who can affect ordinary people's lives, which meant that gambling results could be seen as signs of their benevolence. It is worth pointing out that sometimes certain gambling rituals like casting lots or dice were used to dispense justice.

Ancient Rome: dice games for emperors and commoners

Ancient Rome had a long history of gambling, and it is safe to say that the activity was incredibly popular among its citizens. Rodolfo Lanciani (1845-1929), Professor of Archaeology at the University of Rome, wrote:

"So intense was the love of the Roman for games of hazard, that wherever I have excavated the pavement of a portico, of a basilica, of a bath, or any flat surface accessible to the public, I have always found gaming tables engraved or scratched on the marble or stone slabs, for the amusement of idle men, always ready to cheat each other out of their money"

According to Lanciani, gaming tables could be found in the Forum, on the steps of the temple of Venus and Rome, in the corridors of the Coliseum, and more. However, as one can imagine, most of them were found in barracks, and there's evidence that soldiers would carry these heavyweight tables with them when the camp moved from place to place, despite the enormous distances.

Gaming tables were used to pass the time, but they also caused a lot of fights. Some Roman paintings showcase these fights much like a modern comic would: with players sitting at the table, then standing up to shout at each other only to be interrupted by the tavern owner who commands them to settle their differences outside. However, it seems that the taverns were so popular because of these games in the first place – not even the food and drinks as we would expect.

But what did the Romans play? The archaeologists have described six different games of chance. Some of them were based mostly on lucky dice throws, while others involved some skill and required players to move men figures across the board. In general, people of that time used three dice similar to modern ones, with numbers from 1 to 6 on their sides. Interestingly, the Romans were very familiar with cheating, so they developed special funnels with spiral staircases for dice throwing to ensure no one could manipulate their rolls.

Dice seems like a more advanced version of games of chance, but there were simpler ones as well. For example, much like today, Roman people used to bet on a coin flip, and we know that Greeks played it before them using colored shells. Cheating was also prevalent in these games, with coins being sawed in two to add a piece of metal and then readjust the halves so that one side would be weighted.

Roman law prohibited gambling outside of special holidays, but this wasn't particularly effective, and contemporary authors like Horace and Cicero complained about the issue. It is worth noting that gambling was popular not just among the common folk, but the emperors as well, although they all had different approaches to the game.

For example, Octavian Augustus was playing exclusively for entertainment. Not only did he play openly and honestly, but he also provided guests with sufficient and equal amounts of money each day to ensure they could make their stakes. He was also very forgiving of debts: "I have lost thirty thousand sesterces, because, as usual, I was very liberal towards my guests and partners. Had I taken from them all that was due to me, and had I been more careful in offering money right and left, I would have cleared at least fifty thousand".

Caligula, however, seems to be the opposite, not only profiting from games but also relying on fraud, perjury, and cheating in the process. It is known that once he asked a guest to hold his dice, came up to two wealthy Romans to immediately put them in irons and confiscate their property. Then he got back to the table, saying that he had never done a better stroke in his life.

Claudius was known to be a huge gambler and if someone wanted to make a career at court, they only needed to flatter his passion for the dice. The emperor even had a carriage built in a way that would allow him to gamble while traveling. Nero loved to gamble enormous sums of money, Domitian played dice at every opportunity, and Commodus turned his palace into a gambling den and even lied about his intention of visiting the African provinces to get a grant from the treasury that he would later spend gambling.

All of these examples eventually led to Rome de facto abolishing any gambling prohibitions for a long time, and only towards the end of the empire Justinian tried to ban games of chance once again. However, we don't know if he was successful at it.

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages marked the decline of gambling, as it was seen as a sinful activity, and not just a form of entertainment. The newly established Papal States played the biggest role in spreading this point of view across Europe, and it was a dominant one for a long time. However, as it usually happens, nothing could stop gamblers entirely. The XIV century marks the rise of playing cards' popularity in Italy, although they were invented in China way before that – around the IX century.

It is important to note that Papal States might have disliked certain types of gambling, but were benefiting from other forms themselves. Lottery was completely allowed since it was organized by governments and ensured stable revenue for clergy and states.

XVII Century: First Casinos and the New Rise of Gambling

In 1638 Venice's city leaders converted a wing of Palazzo Dandolo into the first known western state-sanctioned casino called Il Ridotto, or "The Private Room".

Il Ridotto's founders didn't just invent it on the spot, of course. First of all, China had already had similar gambling establishments for a few centuries at that point, although none are as well-known today as Il Ridotto. Secondly, the casino came into existence as a reaction to the city's leaders' own failure. When games of chance suddenly flooded the streets, they attempted to ban them, but this only resulted in an overabundance of illegal privately owned gambling clubs in the city. Those in power decided that they couldn't deal with the issue, so they might as well become a part of it.

Il Ridotto offered at least two well-known games to the players: biribi and basetta. Basetta was more popular among local players, and it can be simply described as a mix of blackjack, poker, and gin rummy.

Biribi was a lottery-like game in which players placed bets on one of 70 possible outcomes. Interestingly enough, the game had an in-built house edge of 8,6%, meaning that even the first casino already established this practice. Michael Slot, founder of Slot Day, notes that modern free online slots UK usually offer RTPs around 96 or 97%, so it's safe to say that Il Ridotto was earning quite well.

Il Ridotto was officially open to the public, but the strict dress code and high stake requirements meant that in reality, only the nobles could visit it. Despite that, the casino proved to be decently effective at enhancing government revenues, and it also kept mercantile gamblers happy, so its creation was considered a good decision. That's why by the dawn of 1800 there were around 136 similar establishments.

XIX century: Faro, Wild West, and Russian literature

The XIX century marks the beginning of a gradual shift in the way society viewed gambling activities, accepting it as a form of entertainment. During this period of time, a card game of chance called faro was extremely dominant, much like poker nowadays. While totally forgotten today, it appears in a lot of historical documents and classic literature, including Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace", for example.

Faro is a banking game where players compete with the dealer. While it could be played in casinos, some Americans became faro dealers, traveling from town to town with their own bank and equipment, setting tables to try and earn a bit of cash in saloons. The most famous example would be Wild West gunfighter Doc Holiday, who allegedly was earning most of his income this way.

Faro had two main problems that might have led to its downfall. First, it was a game of pure luck. Second, cheating dealers were extremely common. According to independent researchers for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, most sources of information conclude that faro games were most often run dishonestly.

As a result, the game quickly became the leading cause of premature bankruptcy in America, and it was at least partially responsible for the anti-gambling riots in the Mississippi Valley in the 1830s. Despite that, the game didn't lose its popularity for a long time.

XX century: Casinos and Slot Machines

In 1899 Charley Fey, a mechanic of German origin living in San Francisco, created Liberty Bell – a three-reel slot machine very similar to the ones we know today. This marked the beginning of a new era, where slot machines started their climb towards becoming the most popular gambling game in the world.

By 1909 slot machines were all across the United States, and a few years later they would become a worldwide phenomenon. The simplicity of the game's design as well as its incredible appeal ensured that slot machines survived multiple prohibitions, the Great Depression, and the test of time itself. However, coming up with improvements to the initial design required almost a century.

In 1976 Bally Manufacturing, the creator of Money Honey, developed a fully computerized data gathering system for slot machines, marking the shift towards digitalization. By 1980 slot machines had microprocessors capable of playing music, and soon enough they became fully computerized, relying on random number generators instead of mechanical wheels. From now on, there was only one thing left for gambling to achieve to enter the modern era.

Modern online casinos

With the invention of the internet, gambling has gradually moved online, and nowadays most gambling activities can be achieved from one's personal computer or smartphone. As Michael Slot reminds us, today gambling is a $477.30 billion market with limitless opportunities. The industry has been steadily growing for the past decade and is only expected to grow further. While it is still viewed differently depending on the country, the impact gambling had and still has on culture, society, and the economy is undeniable.

Summary

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