History of Gambling and Casinos
The exact origin of
gambling is unknown. The Chinese recorded the first official
account of the practice in 2400 B.C., and it is generally believed
that gambling, in one form or another, has been present in almost
every society since. From the Romans to Napoleon's France
Ancient Greeks and Elizabethan England, history is rich with
tales of exploits based on the games of chance. At the height of the
Roman Empire, lawmakers decreed that all children were to be taught
to gamble and throw dice. One Roman emperor even designed his
carriage to allow dice games while enroot to his official duties.
The French are credited with inventing playing cards in 1387, and in
1440 Johann Gutenberg of Germany printed the first full deck of
cards.
Many present-day gambling games are incarnations of previous games.
The French working class of the sixteenth century became adept at
the Egyptian game of roulette, while Napoleon took interest in the
card game vignette-et-un—what is now known as blackjack or
twenty-one. The English developed a diversion called hazard, the
forerunner of today's popular dice-throwing game of craps, and the
basis for modern poker games is believed to have originated from a
combination of ancient influences including Persian, Italian, and
English games of chance. Further refinements to poker include
betting techniques introduced by the French and the concept of
bluffing developed by the British
Coming to the New World, the first European colonists brought with
them not only the will and determination to lay claim to the land,
but their affinity for games of chance. Horse racing, cockfighting,
and county-sponsored lotteries (similar to today's state-sponsored
lotteries) fueled an appetite for betting and wagering by the
country's new population. Lotteries, in fact, were so popular, they
quickly generated huge revenues for fledgling county governments.
Lottery money funded many civic projects, including the building of
colleges and universities. Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, and
Columbia all owe their existence, in part, to the gambling passion
that swept the country at the time.
With the acceptance of lotteries, horse racing, and, in the South,
cockfighting, gambling houses and halls soon became commonplace,
especially in areas considered outposts for the colonial expansion
efforts. Even George Washington and Benjamin Franklin got into the
act, printing and selling playing cards. Near the start of the
American Revolution, almost every household in this new land had at
least one deck of playing cards. And taxing tea wasn't the only
thing igniting the ire of colonists. Since playing cards were
selling so well in the States, the British placed a tariff on the
cards, as well as on tea, with the infamous Stamp Act of 1765, a
measure that ultimately led to the Declaration of Rights, signed by
nine colonies opposed to taxation without representation.
After the Revolutionary War, all manners of gambling continued to
flourish, meeting little opposition from lawmakers and the public in
general. During the early 1800s gambling on riverboats along the
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers became fashionable. From New Orleans to
Cincinnati and all points in between, magnificent floating palaces
graced the waters with genteel sophistication. Women strolling the
outside decks would wait for their male companions inside the ship's
smoky parlors, chasing dreams of fame and fortune. Most of these
early steamships and paddle wheelers operated as a way for people to
gamble in comfort and style. They also afforded passengers a
pleasant means of transportation. In other parts of the country,
especially in urban areas such as New York and Chicago, gambling
halls began to see a more refined and social clientele; they were
often frequented by members of the upper class who could afford to
lose big. As a result gambling halls grew rapidly, changing into
large, complex organizations run on business principles rather than
Lady Luck. They also became major employers, positively impacting
the surrounding neighborhoods. Gambling became an integral part of
the atmosphere in the frontier cities of the West as well.
And so it went throughout much of the nineteenth century: rich and
poor, young and old, city dwellers and homesteaders shared a common
interest in gambling. The wealthy choose the sport of roulette or
horse racing; the poor, three-card mote; cowboys and gold rushers,
online poker.
But whatever the game, the results were the same. The citizenry
embraced gambling, found it exhilarating, amusing, challenging, and
of course, at times frustrating, but always moral and legal. So what
happened to change public opinion? What caused gambling, a pastime
tightly woven into the fabric of early American society, to suddenly
become illegal in most of the country?