What is gambling?
Actually there is no single, clear cut definition of what gambling is but it is widely agreed that:
- Two or more people agree to take part in the activity (usually an operator and the person who wishes to gamble)
- Normally money (the 'stake') is paid by the loser to the winner
- The outcome is uncertain
- The result is determined at least partly by chance
- Participation is an active experience but can be avoided by not taking part.
A brief history
- 2000 BC Egyptians used knucklebones as four sided dice
- 1500 BC in China, spinning discs were used to play an early roulette game
- 210 AD the first recorded horse race took place in England
- 1588 the first lottery was approved in Britain by Elizabeth I to raise money to repair the Cinque Ports
- 1895 Charles Fey, a mechanic from San Francisco produced the first slot machine
- 1906 gambling in public was prohibited by the Street Betting Act
- 1926 the first greyhound race in Britain was held in Manchester; Winston Churchill imposed a betting tax (abolished three years later)
- 1960 the Betting and Gaming Act legalised betting shops in Britain. Before this there was widespread illegal gambling
- 1964 Gamblers Anonymous was founded in the UK (having originated in America)
- 1994 the national Lottery was launched
- 1995 Lottery Scratchcards were introduced
- 1996 for the first time betting shops were allowed to have (a maximum of two) fruit machines
- 2007 The UK Government introduced the Gambling Act 2005
