This is an excerpt from Business of Sports Betting epub, The by Becky Harris, John T. Holden & Gil B. Fried.

Sports and gambling have been closely linked given that the beginning of arranged competitors. Even ancient civilizations gambled on sports betting:

- As far back as 4000 to 3000 BC, ancient Egyptians wager on dice, parlor game, and accomplishments of skill, such as chariot racing and fencing (Bulski, 2020).
- Betting on sports happened during the ancient Olympic Games, around 800 to 700 BC ("Sports Betting History," n.d.).
- In ancient Rome, wagering on games and races was prevalent. Though gambling was periodically banned in ancient Rome, exceptions were produced holidays, on which gaming was accepted. In the very same age as the early Olympic Games, Romans bank on chariot races (De Haas, n.d.).

In 1612, King James announced the very first lottery game in Britain, an event that would play an essential role in funding the Jamestown Colony. The lotto included people purchasing tickets, which were then put inside a barrel or drum, and then a name being selected. Lotteries played an important function in America's advancement, with much of the country's first public buildings, colleges, roadways, canals, and religious buildings being funded through both public and personal lottery games. In 1776, the First Continental Congress began a lottery in the 13 colonies to fund the Revolutionary War (Little, 2019).

British settlers likewise brought a passion for horse racing with them, and the very first racetrack was established in 1665 on Long Island in New York. Despite periods of unpopularity, horse racing has maintained a consistent existence in the United States given that at least 1665, an anomaly among regulated forms of gambling ("Horse Racing History," n.d.).

The expansion of the United States westward saw an increase in betting activities such as poker and other card video games. Illegal betting facilities were frequently disregarded by authorities, and the goings-on were viewed as a lesser evil than a few of the other activities participated in throughout that age, such as brawling. Some cities, such as San Francisco, even certified restricted forms of gambling as a means of raising income (Holden & Edelman, 2020).

Professor I. Nelson Rose has actually categorized 3 waves of legalized betting in the United States (Rose, 2010).

1787 to Mid-1830s

- In this period, gaming was mostly outlawed however was permitted to raise profits by means of lotteries or raffles.
- Lotteries were often run by both public and private organizations; nevertheless, by the middle of the 1800s, there were numerous lottery game scandals across the United States. In many cases, drawings never ever even happened.
- By the end of the 1830s, there was a push to prohibit gaming activities, and many state constitutions drafted in the age, including those of Nevada, California, and Texas, contained a straight-out restriction on lottery games (Rose, 2010). Even today, lottery games remain banned in Nevada.
- This era saw the invention of the steamboat, which resulted in the introduction of riverboat bettors, who were typically connected with dishonest card video games.

1840s to 1890s

- Following the Civil War, the as soon as prohibited lottery reemerged as a way of financing Reconstruction in the American South. Some states rewrote constitutions or lifted statutory bans on the lotto, and others merely disregarded restrictions to allow state-licensed lottery games during the post-Civil War era.
- As westward expansion continued, casino-style betting became popular. Casino video games were often rigged in favor of the operators, and ultimately much of these video games fell out of favor. An exception was card video games such as poker, in which each gamer, in theory, had an equal possibility of winning.
- As cities in the west established official federal governments, laws were passed to forbid gambling establishment gaming.
- This 2nd wave of betting ended much the same method as the very first, with substantial scandals surrounding lottos. The Louisiana lottery game was at the center of the biggest scandal of the time, in which lotto operators were implicated of trying to pay off the state legislature (Rose, 2010).

1900s to Present

- This duration marks the expansion of legalized betting, beginning with the reemergence of the state lottery in 1964.
- Nevada emerged as a destination for betting, followed by Atlantic City, New Jersey. Once novelties, casinos are now found in lots of states.
- Despite the damages associated with betting, lots of states see the income benefits as exceeding the threats.
- As of 2022, all but two states, Utah and Hawaii, had some type of legal betting.