History of Gambling Part I — The Origins

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about gambling? Poker and Blackjack? Baccarat and Roulette? Or maybe sumptuous Casinos in Las Vegas? But did you ever think about its origins?

Actually, gambling is a pursuit as old as mankind and there is evidence that many civilizations supported and encouraged this. Moreover, it also played an important role in the history of the nations as we nowadays know them.

The earliest evidence of gambling is dated around 2300 BC. And it comes from Ancient China. Tiles which presumably were used for “chance games” and lottery-type games were unearthed from different sites. Other gambling artifacts, like dices, were discovered in sites from Rome, Greece, Egypt and India. Did you ever think why the 6–6 dice combination is considered to be good luck nowadays? Apparently, the ancient greeks named this “the throw of Aphrodite” and it would have indicate the game’s victory.

In Greek legends, it is said that Zeus — the god of the sky, Hades — the god of the underworld and Poseidon — the god of seas, divided the Universe with the throw of a dice. In the northern countries history, kings of Sweden and Norway are stated to have divided lands by a roll of dice.

When it comes to card games, the credits goes once again to the Chinese people. Evidence relates the chinese used to play cards since the 9th century. But certainly, the cards used in that time were very different from the 52 card-deck we are used to today.

We will continue our tour through gambling history with an upcoming article where we will discuss about Gambling Evolution through time.