HISTORY OF SPORTS BETTING: FROM ANCIENT GREEKS TO BLOCKCHAIN ​​AND VR

Sports betting is the most popular type of gambling. It occupies 40% of the gambling market. According to the Statista portal, every second resident of the United States over the age of 18 has bet on sports at least once.

In this special project, we consider the history of bookmaking and its evolution over the centuries: from the personal disputes of the ancient Romans to the pool of bets on the blockchain.

PAST

People have been betting among themselves since ancient times. In ancient Greece, spectators made bets on the outcome of the Olympic Games, in ancient Rome - on the victory of gladiators and charioteers. There were no bookmakers then: viewers made bets directly.

The bookmaker business originated in Great Britain two millennia later. In 1790, William Ogden began accepting horse racing bets. He pre-determined the ratio between the size of the bet and the winnings for each horse. In 1850, Leviathan Davis and Fred Swindell opened the first bookmaker's office. Its founders made sports predictions and distributed flyers around London with odds of winning.

Thirty years later, bookmakers have opened in America, France, Germany and Russia. Bookmakers of that time worked on the same principle as they do now: they found debaters and guaranteed payments to the winners, and in return they took margin - profit from the bets.

For centuries, laws have banned or restricted betting, wagering, and gambling. Governments took them very seriously.

Lex aleatoria, 3rd century BC, Rome. He considered winning a gambling game as the acquisition of property under an invalid transaction. The law only allowed betting on “body-building” games like harpastum, the prototype of football.

Edict of Saint Louis, 1254, France. Banned gambling in the country under pain of a whip. Later, the legislator allowed rates up to one golden ecu.

Queen Anne Act, 1710, UK. He declared the payment of debts at rates a "matter of honor" without legal consequences.

Code of laws of the Russian Empire, 1833, Russia. Invalidated gambling debts.

Until the middle of the 20th century, bookmaking remained illegal in Europe and the United States. Bookmakers survived through corruption or legal loopholes. Their clients were deprived of legal protection and could only rely on the honesty of the bookmaker.

In 1961, the authorities of Great Britain, France, Germany and some US states legalized betting. For 6 months after the legalization of bookmaker activities in the UK, 10,000 bookmakers have opened. The work of bookmakers was now regulated: the players were protected by law, and the bookmakers themselves "came out of the shadows."

Great Britain, 1961. The government has legalized and regulated bookmaking. The legislator prohibited the gambling establishment and players from using any advantages. Games could only take place in special clubs.

Federal Republic of Germany, 1973. Federal states have received the right to open gambling establishments throughout the territory, and not only in resort areas.

France, 1987. The government has lowered the minimum age for gamblers from 21 to 18 and abolished entrance fees to gambling establishments.

By 1973, there were 14,750 William Hill bookmakers operating in the UK. By 1982, Littlewoods had 22,000 employees. New types of bets have appeared: on football, boxing, golf, tennis, election results, victories in competitions and the second coming of Christ.

The boom in the betting industry came in the 1990s when bookmakers began accepting bets on the internet. By 2001, the online sports betting market exceeded $ 2 billion and the number of players reached 8 million.

THE PRESENT

The capitalization of the betting market is unknown due to the large number of illegal offices. According to Zion Market Research, the global betting market in 2017 is $ 104 billion, of which $ 45.8 billion is online betting.

In the early 2010s, gamblers began to place bets from mobile phones. In 2016, the share of such bets in bookmakers was 80%. H2 Gambling Capital predicts that 40% of all players will be using mobile devices by 2020.

How is betting different from gambling?

Betting is a subtype of gambling. Gambling is called gambling in general, and betting is only a bet with a bet.

Bets can be placed on the outcome of any event: the results of sports matches, the change in the rate of cryptocurrencies, the victory at Eurovision and the weather at Christmas.

Great Britain, Spain, Portugal and France do not distinguish betting from gambling. Gambling is illegal in the USA, but betting exists in the form of "fantasy leagues". Gambling is also prohibited in Russia, but sports betting is completely legal.

Despite the legalization of betting, online bookmakers prefer to register in offshore jurisdictions. It is cheaper to obtain a license in Curacao or Antigua and Barbuda than in the USA, Russia and the EU countries. Due to lower registration costs and favorable tax climate, offshore bookmakers can offer players bonuses and high odds.