The History of Gambling: Ritual Beginnings

The roots of gambling can be traced back thousands of years to religious ceremonies conducted by many pre-historic societies.  Wide-spread cultural evidence indicates that early man created many rituals specifically to foretell the future or explain what was beyond mortal comprehension.  Initially involving the casting of lots–throwing a random handful of small objects such as pebbles, sticks, bones, shells, or nuts–the end results were then counted to ascertain an “odd” or “even” number; even generally equated with a positive outcome, odd a negative one.  Over time this process became more complex, also including the interpretation of the patterns various natural objects made as they appeared in the environment.  Read more . . .