As Gambling PhD and the Swiss Centre for Problem Gambling (CJE) explain, archaeologists have found the first gambling-related objects in the remains of Ancient Babylon (3000 BC), Ancient China (2300 BC), as well as in India, Egypt and Rome. Blackjack and Poker, for example, have their roots in the first card games played in China with sheets of paper. Try on crypto reels casino!
From the oldest to the most recent
Dice games are the oldest games; bone and ivory dice have been found over 3000 years.
Horse racing and sports betting also have a very ancient origin, as chariot races, the ancestor of the PMU, were prevalent in Antiquity, and each spectator displayed one of the four-team colours or “factions”. In addition, the Olympic Games, created around the 8th century BC, were probably the first major sports betting venue.
On the other hand, Lotteries date back to the Romans, according to the passage on the history of lotteries (Senate Report Les Jeux de Hasard et d’argent en France ). The latter used the drawing of lots to award gifts. The report explains that the pre-Islamic Arab world was also adept at lotteries. The Batavians first introduced the ‘Loterij’ (Dutch for lottery) in Bruges. In the following centuries, lotteries were developed in Italy and France.
The first casinos worthy of the name appeared in the 17th century by groups of card players and hotels wishing to offer new entertainment venues. The 20th century saw them spread to the United States, and it is Las Vegas is now in the minds of many as the gambling capital of the world. However, Macau has managed to surpass it recently, not least because it is the only place in China where gambling is allowed.
Poker dates back to the 17th century if you trace its origins to the Persian game called Nas, where bluffing is a decisive element. But it was obviously in the 1800s that its modern version developed in New Orleans on the boats sailing up the Mississippi. Then, significant variants such as 5 Card Draw or Stud became established during the Civil War. The most popular variant today for Hold ’em appeared in Nevada in the 1970s. At the same time, Omaha was born in a city of the same name and has become one of the most famous variations.
Blackjack dates back to the 18th century and is a mixture of twenty-one and baccarat. Initially not very popular, American casinos made it attractive by placing a high value on the ace-jack combination, hence the name blackjack.
Craps seems to be one of the most recent popular gambling games, invented in the 18th century in England, now the world’s leading gambling hub.
Slot machines were invented in 1898 by Charles August Fey, who had developed a few prototypes in the previous years, but they did not yet have an essential feature: automatic payout. Today, they are a must-have, and the most prominent casinos sometimes have several thousand of them, with hundreds of different models.
