Gambling is an age-old pastime of mankind and has become a popular vacation activity.  Online sports betting may be one of the newest options available for avid players, but it all began long ago with a roll of the dice. In fact, followers of classical Greek Mythology believe Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus divided their universe by rolling dice.  

You can find some amazing information about gambling’s history from network and satellite news. Archeologist have uncovered evidence that some cavemen used part of a sheep’s ankle bone as the original dice, dating over 400,000 years ago. Artifacts of dice made from various materials have also been found in Egypt, India, Japan, Greece, and Rome — dating between 2300 B.C. and 1500 B.C. The Romans were enthusiastic about gambling, so much so that a law was passed that all children be taught how to throw dice and gamble. Roman leaders were known to seize the property of the wealthy to pay for their gambling debts.

During the Roman era, townspeople gambled over the fate of those on trial for treason, incest, robbery and other serious crimes. It was common during this time that royalty and landowners were privately passionate about gambling, but outlawed gambling by the public in order to keep soldiers from participating in the games instead of refining their fighting skills. When pilgrims made their voyage to the new world, they found that Native Americans already had their own games of chance.

In 1793, President Washington bought the first lottery ticket in a lottery that began as a fundraising method to develop the District of Columbia. Federal and state level lotteries continued to be popular in the United States all the way through the 19th century. During the era of prohibition, gambling was sent to the underground along with alcohol, but in the early 1930s, gambling was once again made legal and sports betting, mainly horse racing, became widespread.