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Gaming Throughout the World A Piece of History  Gaming is something more than just an idle means of dispelling boredom, and this is evidenced by its rich and ancient history. Historians can hardly answer when exactly gambling appeared in the world, but the gaming business has been a part of civilization for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found items from ancient cultures used for gambling in Egypt as far as 3500 years BC. For example, in prehistoric burial places, dice made of ivory, bear bones, stone and bronze were found. Statuettes, drawings on stones and pottery often depict people or gods throwing knucklebones (“a knucklebone” is an inter-phalange joint of a sheep or a dog) and using calculating boards for scoring the games. In the pyramid of Khufu, a clay table was found telling a myth connecting the origin of the calendar with gaming. Aryan invaders of India supposedly gambled. In the 2nd millennium BC the dice game with derived from a type of nut was very popular among all castes except with religious people. The process which we would now call “a dice game” had sacred meaning in ancient Germanic tribes; it was a way to find out how benevolent supernatural forces were interacting with you. Even today many people visit casinos to “test the fate”, to find out how benevolent the “lady luck” is. Gambling was popular in Ancient Greece and Rome; they even used a prototype of the roulette wheel – a disk or a wheel, rolling on the sword point – for gaming. Cards are also considered one of the most ancient gaming varieties; - the history of there origin is not only ancient but also rather complicated. There is a supposition that cards appeared in India. Ancient Indian cards used to be round, with eight suits, the deck consisting of 96 cards. The game basics, though, were more reminiscent of chess than of modern cards. Another legend claims that the homeland of cards is France; in the year 1392 King Charles the VI went “insane”, and the game of cards was invented to entertain him during his illness. The hypothesis of oriental origin of cards is grounded on more specific information. The Chinese devised the game of dominoes, having transformed the game of dice, and when dominoes were carried over to cardboard, there appeared cards with the scale of scores. Then “figures” were added, supposedly resembling paper money which was in use in China. First casinos  The first gaming-houses appeared in the Roman Empire. There origin is attributed to the last Roman Emperor, Tarquinius the Proud notorious for his cruelty. He found it easier to collect taxes from his people while they were all gathered in the same place. Moreover, he found it easier to keep order. The Roman authorities built the Grand Circus where they betted on the horses and played dice. The public spent days and nights in the Grand Circus. Almost two thousand years afterwards, Tarquinius’s idea was used again by another famous Italian, Julio Mazarini the Cardinal, who opened a casino in Paris in 1765. The reason inciting the clergyman of such a high rate to turn to gambling was the same as the one of Tarquinius; something had to replenish the treasury which was emptied by Louis XIV. Besides gambling games known at that time, there was an innovation in the casino – “a wheel of fortune”. This was the name for the roulette at that time. Its invention is attributed to a famous French scientist, philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal. His intention was not to invent a gambling device, he just contrived a facility for research in the area of theory of probability. But the scientist had friends who succeeded in commerce rather than in science, and they took a great advantage of his fruitful idea. The success of roulette was incredible and it quickly turned into something more than just a game. It was fashion, lifestyle, and manner of behavior. The fashion for casinos spread quickly and gaming-houses were established in many European countries. Gaming in Europe. One day in history; on May 23rd, 1841, in the small town of Bad-Homburg, two twin brothers, Louis and Francois Blank opened a gaming-house with the roulette modified by sagacious entrepreneurs (double zero was removed from the roulette) allowing players better odds of winning and with that roulette became more popular. Bad-Homburg was a quiet and hopelessly provincial town but the Blank brothers found something noteworthy there; firstly, the picturesque landscapes and secondly, two thermal springs, the meaning of which in those times could hardly be overestimated. All European nobility preferred to go to the spa. However, the Blank brothers realized there are many thermal springs in Europe, and if customers were to be offered something they could not find anywhere else it may be a great location for a casino and they opened one on May 23rd, 1841. The new location gained rabid popularity, but political struggle quickly ensued. On December 31st, 1872, Bad-Homburg got “a New Year present”, the gaming business was prohibited throughout all the Northern German Union founded in 1867, prohibiting gaming. Bad-Homburg naturally remained a popular spa, but, deprived of the “hazard spark”, did not regain its bygone appeal. However, the Blank brothers were not easily discouraged. Then in1849, according to the decision of Frankfurt National Assembly, the casino in Baden-Baden was closed (the one where Dostoevsky, who described “gambling passion” so skillfully in his novel “The Gambler”), Francois Blank estimated that “an alternate field” was needed. Then in 1863 he purchased a concession for managing a not yet existing casino in the tiny state of Monaco. And when the gaming-house in Bad-Homburg closed, the family moved to Côte d’Azur, and soon to the town of Monte-Carlo where a new casino was opened, which is still functioning. It is the casino which contributed to the appearance of Monte Carlo on the world map. In the early 60-s of the XIX century, Monaco was a state tormented by war, a patrimony of the Grimaldi prince clan. They anticipated recreating the former grandeur of the princedom by setting up a resort, establishing communication with the rest of the world, building a theatre and restaurants, but there were no resources for this to be accomplished. Fortunately, a brilliant financier and banker, Maurice Blanc, suggested building a gaming-house in the princedom. Soon the whole city embraced the casino, which glorified Monaco worldwide and ultimately the city was named after the casino, “Monte-Carlo”. Gaming business in the New World  In the New World gambling existed; dice and cards were brought there by Columbus and his men. As would be expected, gambling acquired a kind of unprecedented popularity. Those who disliked gambling often did not take risks and those who did not take risks would not have traveled overseas looking for new frontiers and exploring the world. The first colonists entertained themselves making bets on wrestling, target-shooting, dog and rat fighting. The Americans soon made use of roulettes popularity and profitability with numerous saloons spread over the “Wild West.” In America lotteries grew in popularity as well and were frequently used for raising funds for military defense. For example, in 1776 Congress used a lottery that that very reason. The Congress arranged a lottery with the fund of 5 million dollars in prizes to assist in financing the War of Independence. Several of the best national universities were founded with the money from lotteries, including Yale, Harvard and Columbia University respectively. In addition gambling on board river boats was also thriving in the United States. In the year 1845, about 2000 boats were floating along the Mississippi catering to gamblers and drinkers alike. American innovators quickly realized that businesses grow larger when “average consumers” are the target audience. As the game of roulette was entertainment for mostly well-to-do individuals, the gambling games that proved able to attract the general public would make an even larger impact on gambling and those who gambled. In the year 1895, half a century after roulette, a “great invention” appeared; American Charles Fay presented his “brainchild” to a large audience for judgment. He called it quite pompously; the “Bell of Independence”. This machine consisted of three cylinders separately fastened to a horizontal axis and set in motion by a handle. There were figures on each cylinder. To get them moving, one had to throw a coin or a chip into the slit and pull the handle. When a certain combination of figures came out, the player won. Though, the name “Bell of Independence” did not catch on, Charles Fay’s invention went down in history under the now well known name “One-Armed Bandit”. The people’s passion for gambling turned out to be ineradicable, which is evidenced by the story of probably the most famous “gaming capital” of the world – Las Vegas, NV, USA. Gambling in Sands  At the height of the Wild West conquest , through the valley where Rafael Riviera had found a spring of drinking water (a real treasure in the desert!), a railway was built and a tent town was established for passengers to rest and drink when trains stopped. This in cause allowed more businesses to emerge such as workshops, hotels, stores, cigar shops and saloons. Many saloons included food, alcohol, cards, dice and roulette. However shortly there after, under the “moralists”’ influence, lawmakers from the state of Nevada strictly prohibited gambling in its jurisdiction. Even a jaunty Western custom of throwing a coin in the air when paying for drinks was forbidden. In October 1910, a local newspaper commented: “The wheel of roulette, the rattle of dice and the rustle of cards are stopped for ever!” Who would believe today that this is now Las Vegas? The prohibition lasted less than a month, though. They had attempts against gambling dens in Nevada for about twenty years, however economics interfered. Compared to other American states, Nevada, in everybody’s belief, was unlucky; there is neither minerals, like in oil-bearing Oklahoma or Texas, nor rich land, like in Iowa, nor golden beaches and blessed climate, like in Florida and California. However gambling took root in Nevada and obviously still has deep gaming roots today. Gambling institutions in Las Vegas began opening innumerably casino locations which continues today and even in the worst economic times, such as the Great Depression there was always work and money in Las Vegas. At present Las Vegas, according to estimations consumes more electrical power than France. Casinos have extensive hotels and every operator tries to lure potential customers by offering distinct gambling attractions, from the constructed “mini-Manhattan” with diminutive copies of the most famous New York sky-scrapers and the Statue of Liberty, to the “Egyptian pyramid”, on top of which there is such a bright prism light that rumor has can be seen from the moon. Casinos are competing with each other in casino décor, show programs, dining and other amenities. Other events are now hosted in Las Vegas as well such as the national rodeo finals and prestigious entertainment and concert performers. But “the engine of progress” here is still the wheel of roulette. According to locals, several years ago casinos tried to introduce a kind of a dress code for entering casinos; however it was quickly rejected for Las Vegas does not care if it’s gamblers arrive in a tuxedo and evening gowns or in shorts and slippers – only that they make bets and play! Internet casinos In the 1980’s computer generators of random numbers were a common thing and widely applied to fortune games. It took much effort from developers and specialists, the time when banks began managing online money and the possibility for large numbers of users to get free access to the Internet with this revolution of course included the first online casino appearing on the Internet in 1997, and since then the market has been actively developing. Recent laws passed by the United States Congress now has impeded this unprecedented growth by forcing online casino operators to withdrawal all types of electron account funding to United States citizens; whom make up most of the online gaming market share. What the long term impact of this decision will have on the online gaming community is too early to tell. Gaming business today In world history, the gaming business has proved to be a serious economics factor according to the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP who estimate the overall world income from the gaming business with annual growth of 8.8% and $125 billion dollars by the year 2010 in revenues, up from just 82.2 billion in the year 2005. The largest consumer market for gambling continues to be the USA. |  |  | 
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