Browsing Posts tagged History

    Gambling and casinos are not a modern day invention its roots are laid deep back through our ancestors. Archeological extracts and historians both strongly insist about the existence of gambling events carried out by predecessors. Almost all the civilizations throughout the world have separately revealed the practicing of gambling acts within their community. Our forefathers were proven enthusiasts in playing luck games based on dices or cards. Their obsession for gambling was such that they are believed to have risked a considerable amount of their wealth only for the sake of enjoying gamble. At times when they lost their entire riches the landlords and the kings would risk their lands and kingdoms on the boards of gamble. And when even this was not enough they are also supposed to have betted themselves or any other family member at the roll of a dice. Fate has ruled a man’s destiny since time immemorial and more so when a person is indulged in gambling.

    While the wealthy were supposed to play gambles with massive fortunes at stake even the middle and the lowly were not left behind they would indulge with whatever they could manage for the game. With them there was also a secret lust to gain some easy riches. Desire to be wealthy in one shot is a theory ruling all the gambling centers worldwide. None will contradict that there is an innermost desire in all individuals to be rich overnight. Gambling had also been a very popular entertainment activity for our ancestors.

    Extracts of dices and other objects that are somewhat like the modern day cards were excavated and this pointed towards gambling being practiced in as early as 14th century. The main countries where gambling was popular were Egypt, China, India and Rome. Earlier some of the rulers and kings had put a ban on gambling activities but later when they relieved this imposition people flocked at a common place to gamble and also some other events related to business or pleasure drinks were offered at those spots. Although some earlier governments were against this act but due to the ever-rising popularity of gambling games sooner or later almost all authorities legalized gambling joints. With this legalization of gamble began the formation of the present day widespread network of gambling centers around the globe.

    Almost all the games played in present day casinos like the roulette, poker, playing cards, Black Jack, slots machines, craps and baccarat have a history of their own development to the form in which they are played today. Even the most acknowledged place of today, which is a heaven for casino lovers, the Las Vegas, has a rich history to depict its rise as the worlds most favored gambling center. Las Vegas did not emerge in one day as a city ruling the gambling sector throughout the world. It was earlier a abandoned valley but with people flocking there one by one and the government regulations being relaxed to obtain the residency of Las Vegas the city began growing. And finally legalized gambling led to an upcoming of the modern day casinos center of the world.

    Mansi aggarwal writes about gambling history. Learn more at http://www.gamblingorigins.com

    Man, by virtue of his instinct to survive, is naturally a gambler. Given the risks of living day-to-day life, it was considered an act of skill to stay alive until the sun sets, especially during the Stone Age. As the human race began to develop systems that would facilitate the physiological need of survival, the gambling instinct that was inherent in man did not dissipate. Rather, it became stronger with the passage of time.

    The gambling instinct, simply put, is displayed early into the history of human civilization. The Romans were notorious for their fierce and unforgiving gladiator matches, which were mainly violent at least and visceral at best. By 80AD, the emperor Titus then conducted the first official ceremonies at the Colosseum, and thus the festivities had begun. Slaves were pitted against each other in mostly battles to the death, and sometimes against wild beasts as well. Spectators relished the thought of betting on their favorite gladiator, hoping that he would live to see the end of the glorious battle.

    But as time progressed, the violence of the human sport had proved to be too much for some, and gambling has been reduced to animal fights. Of course, this has been around even before the human blood sport of gladiators, but they had become highly popularized in certain parts of Europe -particularly Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France, and even some parts of Asia such as the Philippines and Indonesia. Among these fights were bullfighting, cockfighting, and fox hunting.

    As European influence spread more and more all throughout the continents of the world, the thrill of betting soon became a worldwide phenomenon. Gradually, the hunger for the sight of blood was soon surpassed by the promise of amassment of wealth. The stakes were high, but made more appealing by the rise of establishments such as casinos. Betting was never more enjoyable.

    But alas, the collected momentum of sports betting was halted abruptly by the coming of the two World Wars since activities such as race meeting and lotteries became severely restricted. Its return only came in the mid-1950s and soon flourished again.

    Not to be outdone, sporting events still remained strong in gambling circles, as events such as horse races, basketball matches, and baseball games just seemed to beg for more incoming bets. The rise of communications technology also facilitated the development of sports betting, with phone betting becoming an attractive option to those who live far and away from the games. Companies such as Intertops in Antigua started this as far back as 1993.

    When the Internet finally came out for public access and personal use, the betting world evolved into a more closely-knit community. Globalization served its purpose in connecting the world in ways previously thought inconceivable -after all, who would have thought that you can bet on a game halfway across the world with such ease? In 1996, a company in Gibraltar called Microgaming took advantage of this trend and began developing software for use in other gaming companies all over the world. Others soon followed suit, and thus online sports betting as we knew it was born.

    Hamish Alan Davidson is the CEO of http://www.sportsbetting.com.au pty ltd. Hamish has been a licensed bookmaker for 12 years, trading from the state of New South Wales, Australia, before moving operations to Darwin in March 2010.

    Online gambling is a fairly recent practice, yet a very controversial one. Its history began in the 90’s, as the internet began increasing in popularity. One of the first events to take place was when the government of an island in the Caribbean, Antigua and Barbuda, passed a law in 1994 which allowed online casinos to base there. This was called the Free Trade and Processing Act. Realizing the almost endless possibilities of making money through online gambling, several entrepreneurs jumped at the now legal chance to start this new venture.

    Different companies were formed that same year and more continued to be formed in the years that followed. Some of these companies were creating online casinos, and others were designing the software needed to run the financial transactions of online gambling and developing new games. As online casinos started to increase in number and become an extremely lucrative business, with reported revenues of nearly 835 million dollars in 1998 alone, different layers of the U.S government began to take notice. One in particular, Senator Jon Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, decided he would be the leader against online casinos and introduced the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act in an attempt to restrict gambling activity in the United States. The bill failed to pass in Congress, and online gambling continued to flourish, possibly even better thanks to the media attention it had received courtesy of the senator.

    As online gambling continued, a few companies created software packages that could be leased by online gaming sites for a percentage of their earnings. This helps many new online gaming sites appear. Around this time, Canada also began to curb online gaming activities, raiding offices and eventually fining one of the largest online gambling servers.

    In 1999, Senator Kyl presents a revised version of his Prohibition Act bill, and once again, it fails to gain the support needed in order to pass. Meanwhile, Australia allows the creation of an online casino, which in the end became the only one allowed and is currently still in operation. Although many more would-be casinos attempted to obtain licenses in Australia, the Australian government quickly formed a law preventing any new online gambling operations.

    In 2000, Republican Senator Bob Goodlatte of Virginia introduces a further revised Prohibition Act to congress, and it is once more turned down. The following year, two bills that would help cut online gambling are passed in Congress. One was an updated version of the Wire Act, which makes it unlawful for individuals to be involved in the business of betting or gambling. The other bill attempts to prevent online payment to online casinos by prohibiting institutions based in the U.S. from handling such payments, making it more difficult for U.S. residents to engage in online gambling.

    A few lawsuits occurred in the years that followed, and in 2006, several arrests of online gambling CEOs were made. At the same time, the U.S imposed sanctions on offshore gambling companies, resulting in Antigua and Barbuda filing a case with the World Trade Organization, which rules that U.S. actions are discriminatory and unlawful.

    Nonetheless, in October, 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is approved by congress, although many question the integrity of the means used to pass it. Online casinos continue to operate and attempt to change laws to their favor; meanwhile, most operate offshore, although U.S residents still make up a large part of their clientele.

    Gamblers Guide provided by Get Directory

    Many historians believe that people in medieval times played a game very similar to our modern day craps. The game of craps actually goes back even farther, to the Holy Roman Empire, when soldiers would entertain themselves by whittling or carving down pig knuckles into cube shapes which they would then roll, using their inverted shields as a makeshift craps table. From this practice has come the term “to roll the bones”.

    There are other schools of thought as to craps’ origin. Some believe craps originated in America from another old dice game called “hazard”. The rules of hazard were established in the early 1700s by a French mathematician, Pierre Remond de Montmort .

    The origin of the word “craps” is not clear, but it may have come from “crab eyes” a term used in hazard, which would thus bolster the claim of some of craps having the French origin. 

    In any case, in the early 1800’s, the game of Hazard was refined into the dice game we know today as “craps”.  It was popular on riverboat casinos plying the Mississippi and in casinos in New Orleans and elsewhere.  By the early part of the twentieth century, craps had become the most popular of all casino gambling games.

    Today you need not travel to a riverboat sailing down the Mississippi nor to Las Vegas, Atlantic City or any other casino.  You can play craps right from the comfort of your very own home.  Online gaming INternet sites usually offer craps and a variety of other games of chance for your enjoyment.

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    It’s always a humbling experience when we stop for a while and look around us. Half of the things we take for granted today were just the stuff of dreams and ambitions just a few decades ago. Take online casinos, for example. How many people wake up, open their computers, log into an online casino, and proceed to play the day away?

    Back then, people had to go to Las Vegas just so they could play at a casino. They would travel for miles and miles just to play a single game of blackjack or baccarat. You really have to appreciate how people succeeded in making this happen.

    In the Beginning…

    Online Casinos started cropping up during the mid 1990’s, although there’s much debate as to who exactly opened the first one. Many believe it to be ‘InterCasino’, an online gambling site which opened in 1996. However, there are some that believe that it was actually ‘Gaming Club’, which opened in October 1995.

    It is not unlikely that this is the truth, considering how Microgaming, the owner of the said site, is also the first online gambling software provider to be established. Either way, these new online casinos only received their go signal when Antigua and Barbuda passed an act called the “Free Trade and Processing Act”. This allowed online casinos to open at the said country without fear of litigation.

    Of course, though the online casinos were based in the Caribbean, the bulk of their users resided elsewhere in the world. And, due to the very nature of the internet itself, this made all the users prone to exploitation.

    This prompted the Kahnawake Gaming Commission to be established in 1996. They regulated the online gaming activity of people and casinos and also issue gaming licenses to the online gambling sites. They aim to keep the online gambling industry transparent and fair. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is based in Canada and, up still provide excellent service to casinos and the users alike.

    By the late 1990’s, online casinos were already very much established. However, connectivity issues were rampant and the action in general was rather slow due to the lack of bandwidth. It was only until after the new millennium that this issue was solved. But by then, online casinos had new problems.

    The UIGEA

    It is impossible to talk about the history of online casinos without talking about the legal fiasco that happened in 2005. Antigua and the US were in a dispute over cross border online gambling.

    The World Trade Organization decided to side with Antigua and, as a result, the US passed the UIGEA. This was a last minute addition to their Safe Port Act. The act made it incredibly hard for online gambling sites to cater to the US, so a lot of them just decided to close their doors to US citizens altogether.

    Even until now, this piece of legislation is still under debate, especially since it hurt not only the online casinos but the US players as well. There’s a change in the legal climate these days, though, since the European Union seems to be rather supportive of the online gambling industry.

    There’s even talk that the US is considering some concessions. Either way, it seems that Online Casinos not only have a colorful past, but a great future ahead too.

    Gambling Happy is an online gaming portal offering reviews, news and information from the webs most trusted online gambling sites.