A Walk Through the History of Gambling

When discussing gambling, you probably think of the national lottery, sports betting, and casinos. You might think about video slot machines, high-stake table games, and poker tournaments – probably everything online as well.

 

However, most of today’s gamblers are unaware of the rich history behind the games dating back to Ancient Rome and China. So, let us quickly dive into the early forms of gambling.

 

The First Casino Dates Back to 1638

 

The oldest casino stems back to 17th-century Venice. Although there is some confusion around its name – most experts say it was called the Ridotto while some believe it was called Casino di Venezia – there is no doubt that the former theatre was the first gambling house in Europe and worldwide.

 

The Ridotto was a pompous building designed by Italian architect Mauro Codussi, who usually designed churches. The building featured tall ceilings, large wooden doors, carefully crafted wall paintings, and plenty of ornaments.

 

Venice’s casino remained the only one for over one hundred years until Belgium followed and opened the Casino de Spa in 1763. This is mind boggling considering that today, Las Vegas alone is home to 23 casino resorts. Not to think about online casinos where the total number, if you count all of the main casinos’ sister sites, are in the thousands.

 

Card Games Were Most Likely Invented in China

 

The earliest reference to card games can be traced back to the 10th century during the Northern Song dynasty. Some experts, however, believe the leaf game wasn’t a classical card but a board game. Instead, they say, playing cards were invented about two hundred years later, during the Southern Song dynasty.

 

During that time, the Chinese played a form of domino, with the symbols printed on cards rather than bones. The earliest form of cards developed further over the next few hundred years into the Qing dynasty when references were found to the first cards with Chinese characters.

 

If you think that most of today’s card games, from blackjack to poker, are all played with character cards, then it’s easy to see the natural evolution that has happened here.

 

Liberty Bell, the First Slot Machine

 

Fast forward a few centuries, and we are witnessing the first ever slot machine that paved the way for today’s most popular casino game.

 

In 1894, Charles Fey, a German-born mechanic, is believed to have invented the first mechanical slot, the Liberty Bell. By assembling a coin slot, three reels with six symbols each, and a trigger on the right-hand side into a standalone machine, Fey built the first version of what we know today as a one-arm bandit or classical fruit machine.

 

Scoring three bells on the reels meant hitting the jackpot, a payout of 20 trade checks. A flush of hearts paid 16, diamonds 12, and spades returned 8 trade checks. There were more symbols, like the horseshoe, which would still double your wager, and you only had to hit two instead of three symbols.

 

Gambling Has Changed, but Not That Much

 

It’s safe to say that gambling has come a long way, and slot machines, often boasting five reels and hundreds, if not thousands of ways to win, have developed significantly.

 

However, reading through the first references and looking at the first inventions of cards, dice, and the Liberty Bell shows that gambling, in its purest form, hasn’t changed at all.