Gambling in the Ancient World – Gambling Origins

Gambling is one of the most popular past times in current days even going as far as being a way of life and making money. Ancient games of chance go back to find their roots far in the past and with older civilisations. In this article, we will be going over gambling in the ancient world, the origin of gambling itself and how it all evolved.

In the coming sections, we will talk about how gambling started and advanced in the ancient civilizations of China, Greece, Egypt and the history of Roman gambling. From all the research that has been done through the years, gambling can be dated back to roughly year 3000BC in the region of Western Asia. There, games were played using a six-sided dice.

Gambling in Ancient Greece

Let’s start our journey through the history of gambling with the land of ancient Greece. Gambling was illegal there for many centuries, but the people still were enjoying ancient games of chance, such as heads or tails, checkers, animal fights and more games that contain risk, chance or luck. At some point, dice games were starting to get more popular there and the ancient Greek would play with three or four dices by shaking them in a cup and then throwing them.

Dices were believed to be manipulated by the gods and other higher entities at that time. According to mythology, the gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divided the Universe among themselves through a game of dice. Hades “drew the short straw” and had to take the Underworld, as his brothers had better luck.28

Gambling in Ancient China

Gambling activities in China can be traced back to 2300BC during the Xia dynasty when they started becoming very popular among the people. The actual origins of card games are in ancient China as they were invented there. The first card games just contained numbers and symbols and later the Persians created the face playing cards, such as king, queen and joker.

The Chinese also are responsible for the invention of Keno and many other famous games, such as Mahjong, Dominoes and more. Although even in current days almost all types of gambling are still illegal, the state-run lotteries are allowed along with certain games within Hong Kong and Macau.

Gambling in Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptian civilisation has extensive history recordings going back to the primitive era. Even back then, there were forms of gambling games that people partook in. These wager games were quite simple and involved throwing stones and sticks in the ground and deciding the outcome if they land in an odd or even manner.

With time the ways the games were played, and their general rules became more sophisticated, and the stakes grew as well. New objects and patterns were also introduced, drastically increasing the number of outcomes that the game can have. Later in time, card games, dice and simple board games would be adopted and played.

Roman Gambling

Ah, Rome, one of the cultural capitals of the world but also famous for its gambling history during its ancient times. When it was under the rule of Emperor Augustus, it reached a peak and the leader was also a known gambling addict. Even with the strict prohibition, once a year during the Saturnalia festival where the god Saturn was praised, everyone could eat, drink, and play games regardless of class.

Ancient gambling in Rome consisted of two types of dice games that were played, in which either only dices were thrown, or a board game with movable pieces containing a dice throw. The boards which were used usually had 36 squares as a gaming field and each space had a symbol inside of it. The dices used there were three six-sided dies, where you already know three sixes was the luckiest throw.

First Signs of Casino-Like Gambling

Gambling has evolved a lot since ancient times, but the main philosophy and idea behind the games is the same. Try your luck and if the outcome benefits you, win. Let’s look at how the modern casino games and wagering came to be and evolve. As a starter, we will cover one of the all-time classics – blackjack. There still is no real proof of the origins of this game but there were three countries that were playing similar games with pretty much the same objectives in all three. The Spanish were calling it “One and Thirty” because the aim was to reach a score of 31 and it is played with at least three cards. Both the French and Romans had their own versions as well, where the goal was to reach 21 and it carried over into modern blackjack. There are many other interesting stories, such as the Curse of Scotland, where you can find more facts or legends about gambling in the ancient world.

Baccarat is another game that doesn’t have fully proven origins yet. It is widely believed that it came from Italy as the name of the game actually means “zero” in Italian. The game was initially played in with tarot cards and became popular in France in 1490 AD. Then the game was adopted in Europe as well, and they made their own version called European Baccarat. Today the game has evolved and there are different variants available, such as American Baccarat, Online Baccarat, Mini Baccarat, etc.

Last, but not least, we would like to look at another popular table card game – poker. It is believed to be a reworked version of the old Persian game called As-Nas, which can find its roots back in the 17th century. At first, the game was played with a deck of 25 cards and the same rules as modern poker. There were some differences though, as there were no such thing as flushes or sequences. Poker was really made very popular by the United States during the 19th century and created video poker in the 21st century. Nowadays, you can find even when you are on the go by downloading an online casino app or launching the gaming website directly on your smartphone’s web browser.

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