A History of Sports Betting

[nitrobetting]

1. Early 19th century it was all about the ponies

The first sports betting ever recorded involved placing wagers on chariot races in Rome. When the Romans invaded what we now call the United Kingdom, they didn’t have enough chariots.
So the Romans bet on horses versus other horses. These were money line and matchup bets. As far as we know the Romans didn’t bet on things like the exacta, trifecta, or superfecta.

2. Spread betting became a thing when college football became popular

Spread betting didn’t become a thing until the heyday of college football. College football had it’s golden years in the 1920s.
Red Grange, who played at the University of Illinois before joining the Chicago Bears, was the first ever football superstar. Pro teams like the Bears were popular, but college football, by far was the most popular.
The NFL didn’t become ultra-popular until Pete Rozelle became the commissioner and made a deal with the television networks to air games on Sundays.

3. The organized crime organized sports betting

Charlie Luciano got the nickname “Lucky” because he had a knack for finding longshot horse plays at Belmont and Aqueduct. Along with Ben “Bugsy” Siegel and Meyer Lansky, Luciano developed an organized crime web that included sports betting that expanded from New York all the way to Midwest.
Siegel is the one who got the mob into Vegas. He struck up a deal with the William R. Wilkerson’s Flamingo Hotel and started Vegas on the path to becoming a tourism mecca.

4. Organized loses control of Vegas

The criminal element started losing control of Vegas around 1986. The best representation of this happens in the movie Casino by Martin Scorsese.
One of the reasons organized crime lost control of Vegas is because Nevada politicians and corporations realized they could make more money with shows, restaurants, and other tourism type things.

One important thing to note is that Nevada remained the only state that had legalized sports betting. New Jersey had legalized other forms of gambling, slots and card machines, but betting on sports wasn’t legal in New Jersey.

The Federal Government had provided Nevada the monopoly.

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[danherbias07]

I thought it was now legal in New Jersey.
I once read an article about a person taking the train from New Jersey to New York (correct me if I am wrong with the next state) to just make a bet on a sport and come back home to watch the game. Then he concluded in the article that is now available in the said state.

Also, I think giving spreads was already being done before but just not in a legal way. More like p2p and it's still being done today. One example is when I give +10 to the neighbor who wants to bet for the Miami Heat against me who sides with the Denver Nuggets in last season's NBA Finals. A handicap because the team I chose was the favorite but the bet will just be between us.

But good article though. It's actually difficult to pinpoint where the first sports betting is, illegally. Maybe there are already other sports back in the day which was not recorded and they are already putting money on it.

[Rruchi man]

I refuse to really accept all these articles that claim to be the history or pin an individual as discoverer or explorer of something that is natural.

For instance, history will tell you that Mungo Park was the first explorer of the River Niger in west Africa(something natural), but as far back as then, there must have been local tribes that were fishing on the river and depended on it. Those people know the river better, but their account cannot be taken.

Betting possibly started anywhere in the world not just by the Romans. It feels like a natural human nature for people to test their predicting skills. Two kids in some settlement somewhere may have bet to outrun each other on their way to the river or something like that or people on local community games. Those other people were not just as powerful as the people who claim to have recorded it first, again "a rich man's account is what is taken over the poor man's own."

[Jating]

Betting possibly started anywhere in the world not just by the Romans. It feels like a natural human nature for people to test their predicting skills. Two kids in some settlement somewhere may have bet to outrun each other on their way to the river or something like that or people on local community games. Those other people were not just as powerful as the people who claim to have recorded it first, again "a rich man's account is what is taken over the poor man's own."

Yeah, it's more on just wanted to see how everything can be predicted and then with the involvement of money in any sports, it become so big. Nevertheless, it's good to see the history though on how it involved to the current state of sports betting.

Now it's totally different, there are the basic Money Line bet, and then the spread and others like parlays and odds become computed. But obviously, the odds still favor sports bookies, but that's how it is though. They are in the business of making money and so they will have to do everything to have the advantage.

[swogerino]

Yes gambling is old as old as human nature being first played with dice if I am not correct 4000 years before Christ and it is natural then to have started some sort of sport betting like which one outline each other.The fact is that sport betting has evolved a lot as now we have tons of markets on a single game or event.Spreads are good for people who get bored and really sad when they lose the money line bets in a continuous way and they like to only bet on different type of bets.I am one of such persons that hate when I lose money lines on odds of 1.30 for example and I have found a better way which is to bet on this additional type of bets.

[bittraffic]

I have some doubts about that sports betting started 1990s. Even in the late 1990s the internet wasn't very adopted. I think websites during that time static pages written in html. The first website I visited 1997 was the garment brand with nothing on its page but but white background with colored shirts.

Crime organizations are indeed engaging in sports. Boxing was riddle with Italian and Irish mobs as what I've seen on documentaries.

[Iron Fist]

I have some doubts about that sports betting started 1990s. Even in the late 1990s the internet wasn't very adopted. I think websites during that time static pages written in html. The first website I visited 1997 was the garment brand with nothing on its page but but white background with colored shirts.

You know, it's not accurate to say the late 1990s Internet was mostly static pages. Amazon kicked off in '95, and I believe eBay, which used to be AuctionWeb,  was around the same time. Not sure when the first online casino or sportsbook came into play, but those late '90s definitely brought a shift toward dynamic websites with e-commerce and all sorts of online services popping up.

[Westinhome]

I have some doubts about that sports betting started 1990s. Even in the late 1990s the internet wasn't very adopted. I think websites during that time static pages written in html. The first website I visited 1997 was the garment brand with nothing on its page but but white background with colored shirts.

Crime organizations are indeed engaging in sports. Boxing was riddle with Italian and Irish mobs as what I've seen on documentaries.

It was the interesting fact,when the internet was not ready available to all the people.How the sports betting was started in the internet.The first website also the interesting one,because the sports bet need more code for the images and animation.So the as OP said it was not the real fact,the sportsbet was started in 1990.If I was not wrong,the sportsbet in the offline form may be available in 1990 like the betting on the cock,horse and other animals.The sports betting was come into the market after the more animation was come to the market.Because the sportsbet need of good design to get more gamblers.

[Sim_card]

Ever since the creation of man that is when gambling started because gambling is a natural thing in human nature. i will disagree with you that gambling started in 1990. If you are christain, you should know that the roman soldiers cast lots on the robe of Jesus Christ to see who own it and i dont think that we were already in the world then. Nobody can tell when gamble started and from which country,because that person cannot be in different countries or places at the same time. As for sportbetting, i will say that it started ever since ther creation of sport games,like football and other popular sport. I could remember that when i was very little there is this Nigeria football legend known as Samuel Oparaji who was on top of his best performance during the 80s. Without internet gamblers bet on the field while they are watching the match

[Russlenat]

I have some doubts about that sports betting started 1990s. Even in the late 1990s the internet wasn't very adopted.

Well, there are two flavors of sports betting, my friend: offline sports betting and online sports betting. If you're in the mood for some old-school fun, you can hit up Vegas and get your sports bets on in person. No need for the internet there, right?

[swogerino]

I have some doubts about that sports betting started 1990s. Even in the late 1990s the internet wasn't very adopted. I think websites during that time static pages written in html. The first website I visited 1997 was the garment brand with nothing on its page but but white background with colored shirts.

Crime organizations are indeed engaging in sports. Boxing was riddle with Italian and Irish mobs as what I've seen on documentaries.

I have worked in the casino in that era,late 1990s and early 2000s and I must say that online betting,Eurobet,William Hill and PInnacle were all created before the year 2003 but I don't know how much prior to that it was.Beside these well known websites soon after they started popping up like crazy and in the year 2007 and above we all know what happened and how many of such online betting platforms were created.

Ah I forgot the famous Chinese branch Sbobet who accepted any amount and any game from any category but I don't know if it is still alive today.