Gambling has been a part of human history since as long as there have been humans. While dice have been traced to ancient Egypt and keno-like games date back to ancient China, more modern forms of gambling evolved recently.
Now that you have access to real money online casinos at your fingertips, it may be worth taking a look at how humanity reached this point. The history of gambling is interesting, especially because it continues to be written.
Who Invented Gambling?
The Chinese, Greeks, Egyptians, Japanese, and Romans all can stake a claim to the first casino, based on archaeological records. But the invention of gambling goes back before the casino, the first time two friends bet each other who could run faster, jump higher, or win a wrestling match.
Formal gambling may have been invented by the Chinese, with a keno-esque draw lottery being used to fund various governmental functions. Some historians even theorize that the Chinese games were used to raise money for the construction of the Great Wall.
Did Gambling Exist in Ancient Times?
If you were a time-traveler, you could find gambling dens, houses, or street-corner games throughout numerous ancient civilizations. According to encyclopedia.com, dice were originally called knucklebones and carved from the bones of sheep. The first literary mention of dice occurred in India circa 500 B.C., in an epic poem. Dice also receive mention in the works of ancient Greek poet Sophocles and in the Bible.
Gambling was definitely a past-time of our ancient human ancestors. But how did gambling move from informal, possibly illegal gatherings into today’s glitzy casino scene?
Where and When was the First Casino?
Casinos as we know them are traced back to Italy in the 17th century. Though Romans had been gambling on the peninsula for thousands of years by this point, Venice established the Ridotto by 1638.
As the first formal casino, Venetians created the Ridotto to control the chaos from rowdy gamblers descending on the city during the annual Carnival celebrations. Instead of allowing street-corner dice games and card rooms in hovels down back alleys, Venice built a dedicated space for gamblers to congregate.
Of course, the city was able to profit from taxing the gaming which occurred in the Ridotto. Over the years, casinos spread across Europe. Eventually, some became opulent palaces such as the famous casino in Monte Carlo.
Across the Atlantic, formal casino gaming in the United States had a turbulent history. Though lotteries raising money for public works projects date back to pre-Revolutionary times, casinos were thought to be dens of sin. America’s puritanical social mores kept most gambling from being socially acceptable.
When steamboat travel was introduced to the Mississippi River and its tributaries, America’s first formal ‘casinos’ sprang up on the boats. Due to the interstate nature of steamboats, individual states lacked the power to quell (or tax) gambling on these routes. Many famous poker games occurred in the bowels of these ships.
Formal land-based American casinos first sprung up in the most unlikely of places: the scorching desert of Nevada. The state was hit especially hard by the Great Depression, causing a crash in the price of many of the commodities mined from its hills, such as silver. In response, state politicians hit upon a novel idea: legalize casino gambling.
Up to that point, the only legal gambling options in the U.S. were horse racing in Kentucky and Maryland and small, scattered card clubs. Nevada lawmakers built upon numerous factors into creating a gambling Mecca: the building of the Hoover Dam and Los Angeles’ spectacular growth into a world-class city being two of the biggest.
Las Vegas has since grown into one of the world’s premier gambling destinations by embracing what the rest of America shunned. Now, gamblers can find all of their favorite casino games on the floor of Las Vegas casinos. From blackjack to video poker, slot machines to craps, Las Vegas casinos offer legal, regulated gambling with a side of free drinks.
