Throughout history, humans have loved to gamble. Whether it involves casino gambling or running a red light, we love to test the limits of probability. It’s all about beating the odds.
Innovations in gambling today date back to the beginning of time. Let’s go way back to those gamblers of the earliest times.
1. The Four Earliest Innovations
Dice
Archaeologists have discovered primitive dice in Mesopotamia dating back to approximately 3000 BCE. They were carved from bones, stones, or ivory and used for games, decisions, and high-stakes bets among tribal elders. In Ancient Egypt and Rome, gambling was so popular that it had to be regulated. That led to another innovation in our time – Gaming Commissions.
A new study, however, presents compelling evidence that the earliest known dice were created and used by Native American hunter-gatherers more than 12,000 years ago. These discoveries come from the western Great Plains at the end of the last Ice Age and predate the oldest known dice from Bronze Age societies in the Western Hemisphere by thousands of years.
Numbers
Where would we be without numbers? Number games were the predecessors of bingo, lotteries, and card games of all kinds. Lotteries were used to pay for and support wars and revolutions throughout history, from Chinese Dynasties to our own Revolutionary War.
Numbers have always held a special place in gambling myths and beliefs. You might have noticed how certain digits play a huge role in the superstitions surrounding gambling. Numbers hold the mathematical truth of RTP (Return to Player), referring to the percentage of winning results, which corresponds to game strategy and choice.
Playing Cards
The consensus is that the earliest card games date back to 800 A.D. in China, evolving from domino tiles and paper money. These “cards’ were often rectangular slips of paper. Decorative symbols represented both the game played and the stakes.
The Wheel
French mathematician Blaise Pascal was trying to create a perpetual motion machine. Instead, he gave us the spinning wheel, which led to the game of roulette. From French salons of the 1700’s to riverboats on the Mississippi, gambling was everywhere. Wheels are used in gambling everywhere today. Pascal probably never thought his invention would turn into “Wheel! Of! Fortune!” heard in today’s casino every minute of every day!
2. The Casino
The precise origin of a house strictly for gambling is unknown. But the first known European gambling house, the Ridotto, was established in Venice, Italy.
In 1638. The prototype for modern casinos wasn’t flashy, but it provided controlled gambling during the carnival season. The importance of this establishment was its organization of card games, dice, and primitive banking games, where nobles and commoners could mingle.
Did You Know? Not all casinos were gambling houses. The Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island, was a social club with both lawn and court tennis, squash, and lawn bowling. It also included club rooms for reading, socializing, card-playing, and billiards. The Newport Casino still exists in all its “Gatsby” splendor.
3. Slot Machines
The Beginning
Sittman and Pitt Company of New York introduced a gambling machine in 1891 with five drums and 50 playing cards. It looked more like today’s Video Poker games than a slot machine. It cost a nickel to play and was mostly popular in many bars of the day. The innovation of pulling a lever to line up a winning poker hand on the reels was ingenious. But, with no way to payout wins, players would go to the bar to collect their winnings, which were often in the form of free drinks or cigars.
Did You Know? – Remember, it only had 50 cards instead of the standard 52. To provide the house the edge, two cards – the ten of spades and the jack of hearts – were removed from the machine, cutting the odds of getting a royal flush by 50%
The Revolutionary Liberty Bell
Charles Fey’s “Liberty Bell” started our infatuation with slot machines. It had three spinning reels, five symbols, and an ingenious payout system that introduced the addicting sound of dropping coins. Their polished steel bodies and bold lettering reflected the industrial design trends of the Gilded Age. Their simplicity led to social acceptance of gaming as a common fixture of public life and casual entertainment. The “One-Armed Bandit” was here to stay, despite pushback on gambling as a vice in the early 1920s.
The Gilded Age Gives Way to Modern Slot Machines
The 1960s influenced the beginning and continued evolution of slot machines to this day. Electric-powered slot machines marked a significant turning point in the evolution of Slot Machines. The 70’s saw the emergence of fully digitized slots with Random Number Generators running things from the inside. Payouts grew larger, and bonus features began to appear.
The late 70’s and 80’s saw manufacturers test the waters of a new slot machine – the new video slots. It became the top casino revenue stream after players got used to the absence of reels as they knew them.
4. Player Loyalty Cards
In the early 20th century. Gambling was still illegal in most states, so casinos offered free drinks, food, and other amenities to avoid being shut down by law enforcement. Casino management quickly found that complimentary amenities also kept their guests longer. However, this standard practice was based on discretionary decisions by owners and management.
Player loyalty cards or reward cards were a true innovation for the gambling industry. Now, casinos could track the habits of all their customers and reward their play. Nowadays, the club card is used to track slot play and table play by considering the data collected concerning:
- Player’s Betting: Simple: the more you wager, the more comps you receive.
- Length of Play: Time spent at the gaming tables or machines influences the level of comps.
- Type of Game: Different games offer different comp rates based on volatility and RTP.
- Player’s Loyalty Status: The higher the tier status, the better the perks.
Takeaway
In INFLUENTIAL GAMBLING INNOVATIONS Part 2, I will delve into the six latest innovations before the AI and Virtual Gaming explosion that’s about to hit. Until then, remember to “embrace the Math, Not the Myth.
