Sports Betting History

Lets face it not all of us can be professional athletes. It is therefore this desire to participate in sport that lead to sports betting as we know it today. Before discussing the inclination of sportsbooks and modern online betting, we should explore the historical roots of betting.

Despite many opinions about the origins of sports betting, can you believe it was the Chinese that first bet on sport? Although it is a popular belief that sports betting originated in the 18th century when horse racing was prominent amongst the fashionable upper class, it was the Chinese who in 1,000 BC began betting on animal races. It was later in 400 BC the Greeks who began betting on human sport in the form of various athletics. This avenue of sports betting was augmented with the Olympic arena and the betting on Olympic games. The popularity of betting on sport catapulted into the limelight with the culmination of the 3rd Century Gladiator fights. Medievil times marked the lancing sport of the knights and more animal racing. Late into this time period Cockfighting became very popular. As modern sports developed as did modern sports betting.

So how did we get to the point where people can not only bet on any sport imaginable, but every minute aspect of every match? Think about your common bet options, you can bet the line/spread (either over or under), you can bet on future outcomes of and league, you can get so specific in sports that you can bet on how many corner kicks will be taken in a particular soccer match. We have to understand that at one time, there was a bookie who controlled these bets. In the early days of developing sports, you had to know who this bookie was and seek them out. This quickly progressed to locales, where people could go to a physical location and legally place their bets. With the boom of the internet, these physical locations are moving out of casinos and into the forefront of online gamblers. International travel has made things very easy for bookies to set up online sportsbooks in other nations where laws are more lenient which allow for better rates offered to clients.

This leads us to the modern day better, anyone anywhere with connection to the internet!