From playing on the streets of Ancient Greece with makeshift game pieces, to the world of televised and online poker, gambling has been a staple for centuries. If you’re a gambling enthusiast yourself, here’s a bit of history about how your favorite pastime has evolved.
2300 BC: Gambling Emerges – It was in Ancient China that we saw the first evidence of gambling. Archaeologists reported finding tile etched with have lottery-style games of chance.
500 BC: Poker Chips Prevail – You can thank a group of young rebels in Ancient Greece for today’s poker chips. With all forms of gambling for money being illegal, players invented chips so that they could claim they were only playing for the small tokens, and not really money if seen by guards.
800 AD: Cards Are Coined – While little is known about their purpose back in 800 AD, the first deck of cards appeared in China at this time. Some believe they were traded like playing cards or used to play the first games of Chinese dominos. Regardless, they were drastically different from 52-card deck we know and love today!
1600: Blackjack Begins – Though the term “blackjack” wasn’t coined until the early 1900’s in the US, the game itself dates back hundreds of years. Evidence shows it was played in both Spain and France during the early 1600’s, but little is known about where the idea truly came from.
1638: The First Casino – The first gambling houses that would resemble today’s casinos started popping up in Italy during the early 17th century as a way to limit illegal street and carnival gambling. Though it had little success at first, it paved the way to lawful and regulated gambling.
1829: Poker is Played – The game of poker is believed to have spurred from many other card games over decades of play, but the first true game can be traced back to the United State’s own New Orleans in the mid 1800’s. With over 100 million players worldwide and 7 variations of the game today, it’s hard to believe that poker was originally a pretty unpopular game. It wasn’t until World Poker Tournaments began in the 1970s that the game began to garner worldwide attention.
1891: Slot Are Born – The modern day slot machine is based on a design first seen in San Francisco, where playing cards spun around and stopped at random. At the time, prizes like gum or cigars were won, but soon after machines began spitting out money and evolved into the electronic machines we play on today.
1910: Casinos Flourish – It wasn’t till the Great Depression the gambling in several states was made legal. With so many people suddenly out of work, many found themselves trying to make their livelihood through casino games, leading to huge interest in casinos.
1994: Online Gaming – Suddenly, you no longer had to go to a casino if you want to gamble! With dozens of virtual casinos popping up by the day, in less than 5 years, online gambling became a multi-billion dollar industry — one that’s still lucrative today.
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