History Of Online Sports Betting: From The Roman Empire Till Today

Posted: April 23, 2020

Updated: April 23, 2020

History of online sports betting has its roots in the Roman Empire.
British were the first bookmakers but Americans transferred sports betting to the web.
New technologies have changed the world of gambling.

Both in gambling and the sports, someone celebrates a victory, and someone has to mourn the defeat. However, do not forget that after your favorite team is defeated, you can still win! The main thing is that your bet is made correctly! Nowadays, betting is a huge multi-billion dollar industry. But there were times when everything arose from the usual disagreement on the topic of “who is better.” We bring to your attention a fascinating history of online sports betting from the Roman Empire till nowadays.

Roots of betting

Many people claim that sports betting already existed during the Roman Empire. You can recall from history that it was precisely at these times that gladiatorial fights were held. During such performances, people were already starting to bet on any of the participants in the duel, who, in their opinion, should win. It was the beginning of the history of online sports betting. Already in the middle of the 18th century, during the reign of Louis XVI in France, something similar to modern betting shops began to exist. Moreover, this king was the first to use the term “handicap”. Subsequently, this term meant an advantage in the horse races. It should be noted that at that time there were no rewards for the winners. Thus, the owners of the best horses were simply allocated. And only in 1922, the first real betting shop appeared in the UK.

History Of Online Sports Betting — Gladiators were gambling too.

The UK – Homeland of betting

The UK is considered the homeland of modern sports betting. Its founders were Levatan Davis and Fred Swindell. In London, for the first time, they managed to create legal betting points. Moreover, they made bookmaking popular. Back in the early 1920s, a concept “bookmaker” appeared itself. And after football was created at the end of the 19th century in England, bookmaking began to develop noticeably. Due to the media and journalists who covered the national championship games, it became possible to bet on the victory of any team already. There is such a statement as “Bread and circuses”. Indeed, it describes bets in the best possible way. Excitement is a kind of risk. When a bet is made on roulette, you can rely only on your luck. But sports betting has a slightly different meaning. To be good at statistics and be able to do the right analysis you need to be a professional better. The history of online sports betting is long but its main principles haven’t changed since the previous centuries.

History of online sports betting

The profits of the betting industry grow rapidly uphill. Independent bookmakers have become famous among gamblers. To make bets, more and more shops appeared. The main thing at the beginning was to have money, get acquainted with the basic literature, and most importantly have a desire to win. All this, as a result, led to an oversaturation of the market. Thus, there were fewer new customers. Under the onslaught of market realities, the small bookmaker shops vanished. To get out of this situation, a migration of betting to the network started. The Americans were the first to increase their profits from sports with the help of worldwide popularization. Online sportsbooks in the USA appeared in the 1970s. Of course, the transition process was not so simple, because at that time not everyone had their PC. However, already in 1972, the first official bet was made using the Internet.

In the United States, an offline betting business was generally banned. At the same time, on the Internet, the bets could be made round the clock regardless of location. Closer to the mid-90s, a real online bookmaking boom began. Then, new operators appeared and were distributed around the world. However, often this kind of activity was prohibited by the government of many countries. And only at the expense of the offshore zones, bookmakers started legal conducting of their work.

Online sports betting today

The advent of the Internet has become another catalyst in the development of sports betting over the past decades. Although the first online sports betting sites were launched at the end of the past century, the services they offer cannot compare with what we have today. However, even in the early stages of online sports betting, people were allowed to place bets anytime from anywhere in the world. They did not need to attend bookmaker shops to place bets. They could also see changes in the betting online, so they were able to choose the best odds. The growth of mobile technologies has brought the convenience of online betting to the next level. Currently, almost every influential bookmaker offers access to their services from a mobile device, which means that a bet can be placed on the go. For example, Bovada sportsbook is a good and reliable platform for gambling. It is accessible from any place and device 24/7. Having changed the external side of bets, ambitious entrepreneurs of the 21st century aim at changing the inside of them. Thus, bookmakers are trying to eliminate the shortcomings of traditional sports bets. Some offer p2p bets. Others go even further offering players the opportunity to bet against each other and the bookmaker. Moreover, thanks to the introduction of the ability to bet in cryptocurrency, a new generation in the history of online sports betting has started.