| THE
HISTORY OF GAMBLING
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.
The idea of blackjack and
poker sprouted from the practice of shuffling paper
money in China around 900 A.D. This evolved into
card playing, which was consequently brought to Europe
via the Mameluke Empire. Being followers of Islam,
the Mameluke people did not have their playing cards
decorated with human forms; Instead, they were adorned
with intricate designs, reminiscent of Muslim carpets.
When the cards made their way to Italy and Spain, card
makers began distinguishing cards with the royal ranks
of men who held power in the Royal Court. The
Queen of today's decks did not appear on the scene until
the 1500's, when the French got a hold of them and
replaced one of the male cards with a female figure
representing a Queen. This pack of cards became
known as the "French Pack", and served as the
prototype of the 52 card deck we are so familiar with
today.
The history of roulette
is an interesting story as well. Roulette, which
means "small wheel" in French, was modernized
into the game we know today by Francois and Louis Blanc.
These two invented the "Single 0" game in
1842, which was brought to America around the same time.
It was the Americans who added the "Double 0"
to the wheel, thus creating a different version -
known as American Roulette - distinguishable from
European Roulette. The origins of the roulette
wheel itself are a little more ambiguous. Some
sources espouse that the 17th century mathematician,
Blaise Pascal, created the wheel. There is also
information supporting the theory that the Chinese
invented the wheel, and that it eventually made its way
into Europe by Dominican monks. When Prince
Charles of Monaco implemented the roulette wheel as a
means of counteracting the financial problems of his
kingdom in the late 18th century, the popularity of
roulette skyrocketed.
Dice have been tossed on
this earth for more than 2,000 years, manifesting into
all kinds of games along their journey. Of these
games, craps has achieved the most lasting fame and
popularity. Originally called "Hazard",
craps was originally played in the private gambling
parlors by only the elite and upper class citizens of
18th and 19th century England. The game was
imported into France soon after and was called
"craps" - a derivation of the word
"crabs", meaning "pair of ones".
When the game came overseas to America, it was
simplified and became an instant success. It
started being played on the steam powered show boats in
American waterways, and soon made its way to the streets
and houses of major cities across the nation.
The gambling casinos of
today have come a long way since their early beginnings.
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.
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