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Gambling has always been an important part of history and a popular form of entertainment for rich people and poor people alike. Gambling is a common term used to describe various games, each with their own very distinct history. Knowing a bit about the history of gambling can help you in your quest to develop a disciplined positive attitude towards your play. Occasionally, gambling has played a major role in history. For instance, in 1020 A.D. King Olaf of Norway and King Olaf of Sweden met to decide on the ownership of an isolated district of Hising. As they could not resolve the dispute by other means they chos to roll two dice. At first roll both Kings rolled double six, at the second roll however the Swedish king rolled two dice of six and the Norway king rolled six on one die while another one cracked and showed seven!
In the 1700s lotteries were established to bail out newly established British colonies. Later on, Americans used state-wide lotteries to sponsor the founding of national educational infrastructure.
History of playing cards
The exact origins of playing cards are uncertain. The earliest verifiable references date back to 13th century Europe and 11th century China. Many scholars have suggested that the Chinese must have invented the original playing cards as they were the first to create paper, however there is no evidence to suggest that the first playing cards were on paper, wood shavings could easily have been used.
It is known that four decked cards evolved in the Islamic world before the 13th century and were introduced to the west by empire building Europeans. The French were the first to introduce the design that we are familiar with today, including spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts onto playing cards. The English eventually adopted the design from the French and started to produce them en masse, quickly followed by the Americans who are credited with producing the cards that we are familiar with today; double headed court cards, varnished backs, round corners and the infamous Joker.
Soon after the Americans caught up artists found themselves a new and interesting game field and thus more card brands were born giving rise to an entire market of playing cards.
Other countries used very different playing cards. For example, India had circular game tokens. The Japanese and Chinese also have their own versions of playing cards and their gaming concepts are based on their distinct culture and differ greatly from those of the west.
History of Blackjack
The origins of blackjack date back to the 18th century in France, where it was referred to as “vingt et un” or “twenty one”. The name "Blackjack" comes from an early version of the game in which the player received a payoff of 10 to 1 if he had a black jack of spades and a (black) ace of spades.
Blackjack made its way from France to the United States in the 19th century, where it was played mainly in the American West. In 1931, gambling was legalised in Las Vegas, and Blackjack became one of the staples of the new casino scene.
In the 1950's and 1960's, books were published that used mathematical analysis to teach players how to improve their odds of beating the dealer. One of these books, Dr. Edward Thorp's "Beat the Dealer" became a bestseller, and Blackjack became the most popular casino game in the United States.
In the 1970's, Ken Uston and his merry band of creative gamblers used hidden computers to win hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their ingenuity attracted the attention of the FBI, which examined the computers and decided that they were not cheating devices, and therefore were fair and legal. Players rushed to apply the lessons of Uston's method, but many casinos decided to adopt a multi-deck system of play, which complicated methods to improve the player's chances. Uston himself was banned from several Las Vegas casinos and was eventually found dead in a Paris apartment in 1987. But the game lives on, and prospers in almost every self-respecting casino, traditional or online.
History of dice
Dice as we know them today find their origin in ancient games of bone rolling. Despite what some say, dice have a traceable history that goes back into the very roots of ancient humanity. They are arguably the oldest form of gambling known to humanity.
Dice games were witnessed by Marco Polo and Ghengas Khan. Ancient Egyptian rulers and Greeks are all known to have resorted to dice rolling as a means of divination and entertainment.
Originally a form of divination, bone rolling slowly became a game of fortune telling and gambling. American Indians, Aztec and Maya, the Africans and the Eskimo all have their own dice games.
Original dice were made from bones, teeth, stones and sticks that a primitive culture of witches and shamans could use for the "magical" means of divination and fortune telling. The dice in the shape we know them today come from Korea and are used in a Buddhist game called "Promotion".
Along with the evolution of dice also came the art of cheating in dice games. Romans were especially notorious at cheating; Augustus, Nero and Caligula all happened to be prolific dice cheaters.
By the tenth century dicing was extremely popular almost everywhere. Dicing was in fact so popular that the Crusader army leaders had to prohibit dice gambling among the lower ranks of troops entirely so as to prevent the soldiers from gambling out their possessions entirely.
History of slot machines
In the beginning of the twentieth century several innovations burst onto the scene that would change the face of cultural and leisure activities. Two originated in the American south - the blues and jazz - and one on the West coast - the slot machine. Like the first two, which were quickly adopted throughout the world and became staples of world culture, slot machines also began to appear very quickly all over the world.
The first slot machine was invented by Charles Fey in San Francisco around the turn of the century. On it were pictures of the different suites used on playing cards - hearts, spades and diamonds. Around 1910 the machine went into mass production, and the pictures on its revolving surfaces changed from being playing card suites to the now familiar fruits. These old fashioned slot machines were made out of cast iron and wood. During the sixties, the slot machine became electronic, and in the 1970's the first video slot machines were introduced. Video slots did not have the mechanical insides of the earlier machines, rather they had screens on which the wheels would turn.
Today, the most popular slot machines are virtual. The internet contains a wide variety of exciting and unusual slot machines whose function accurately simulates that of the familiar slot machines found in every casino around the world. Though lacking in physical form, today's online slot machines offer the player the same odds and excitement found in a casino, only these slots can be played anytime and on any computer.