Here’s a Little Anecdotal Information on The History of Gambling

Gambling has been traced back to as far back about 2300 B.C.- evidence has been found in China to prove this.

A pair of ivory dice made sometime before 1500 B.C. have been found in Egypt.

Writings mentioning gambling have been discovered on a tablet in one of the pyramids at Giza.

Inhabitants of ancient India, Greece and Rome also practiced gambling.

Around the year 1,000 A.D., King Olaf of Norway and King Olaf of Sweden are said to have come together to decide on the ownership of the isolated district of Hising. Because the dispute could not be resolved diplomatically, the two kings agreed to roll a pair of dice. On their first rolls, both kings got double six; on their second rolls, the Swedish king came up with two sixes and the Norwegian king rolled six on the first die. The second, however, is said to have cracked showed seven. Norway received the territory, and the two kings reportedly departed on good terms.

King Henry VIII of England, for example, is said to have banned gambling when he determined that his soldiers were devoting more time to gambling and less time to working on drills and marksmanship.

Playing cards may have developed in China, since the Chinese developed both paper and money made from paper. In fact, the Chinese are said to have come up with the practice of shuffling paper money about 900 A.D. This may have evolved into the practice of shuffling cards. After this card playing is said to have spread to the Mameluke Empire and then on to Mediterranean regions. Eventually the French took out one of the men and added a queen card sometime in the 1500s. This “French Pack” of cards became the prototype of the 52-card deck we use today.

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