Gambling in the Early Times

Gambling is one of the oldest activities of mankind. It is also one of the most universal aspects of human civilization. Cultures as diverse like China, Egypt, Greece, the Middle East and Japan have developed their own gambling practices. In time, these spread out to neighboring cultures and influenced each other.

Archeologists can attest to the early origins of gambling, as evidences such as cave drawings and artifacts have indicated that cavemen participated in games of chance. Anthropologists conclude that people in early civilizations generally believed that the results of games of chance were manifestations the will of supernatural beings they worshipped. Objects of divination included gambling devices as well, which is similar to the use of cards for fortune-telling that is practiced until today.

The crude gambling instruments used then were a far cry from the slot machines and card shufflers that are in use today. Nevertheless, dice and cards were likewise the commonly-used gambling devices as it is in these modern times. Ankle bones of sheep or dogs were fashioned into dice as far back as 40,000 years ago. Dice made out of ivory, dated at about 1500 B.C, were discovered at Thebes in Egypt. Indigenous tribes in Africa, meanwhile, used shells as dice.

The use of playing cards, meanwhile, originated from China at about 900 A.D. Playing cards were likely to be an offshoot of the invention of paper and money also by the Chinese. Tiles were also used by the Chinese in its gambling games.

Even cheating in gambling already existed in ancient times. In the ruins of Pompeii, loaded dice - those with sides that heavier than the others in order to manipulate the numbers that will come up - were among those that were unearthed.

Laws about gambling also have their roots in early civilizations. Early Roman laws had stated that children were required to learn how to gamble. Gambling had also been banned by leaders in the early times after seeing the evils that it brought among citizens. Gambling was considered illegal in ancient Greece while in ancient Egypt, anyone caught gambling was sent to work in the quarries as lawful punishment. Alexander the Great, the Macedonian emperor who conquered the Persian Empire, fined members of his court who made money out of gambling operations.

Evidence of gambling practices by the early peoples and the continuing popularity of games of chance illustrates clearly that gambling has been in existence all throughout history. Gambling may evolved from its roots in early civilizations, but it is still a practice that enjoys widespread appreciation as it had in the ancient days.