How the Gambling Industry has Changed Over the Years

Gambling has been a popular activity for centuries, from dice rolling and card playing in 100 A.D. to the modern technology of online casinos we know today. The gambling industry is a multi-billion-pound industry that continues to serve as an incredibly popular pastime to anyone looking for betting offers, but it’s undergone many changes over the years. We’ve taken a look at the gambling industries most prominent dates in history and how it’s evolved over the last few decades.

The First Person to Make a Profit Gambling

In the 1790s, Harry Ogden became the first person to earn a profit from bookmaking from his view of the winners operating from Newmarket Heath. After studying the field, he would lay odds on each horse rather than just two propositions that were the standard up until this point. As time went on, all types of gambling became limited to the racetrack due to a law that prohibited public games of cards where money was at stake. It was in light of this that brick and mortar bookies opened up in the mid 1800s to allow gambling on sports other than racing.

Legalised Betting Shops of the 1960s

In 1961, the first legalised betting shops emerged onto the market and within six months of the laws changing, more than 10,000 shops had opened. Betting shops paved the way for gambling as a mainstream activity – they comprised of a bookie behind the counter and a ‘board man’ who was responsible for marking up results and the prices for races. By the 1980s, the technology had shifted to allow shops to show races in store, as well as including fruit machines, fixed-odds betting terminals and computer-generated racing courses.

Online Betting and the Launch of Online Bingo Sites

By the late 1990s, when the popularity of the internet was in full swing, bookmakers realised the potential that online betting had. Companies such as Betfair were the first to open online bingo and poker sites, which led the way for other companies to do the same. While bookmakers do provide several features that gambling at home can’t, such as the social aspect and the atmosphere of a bookies, there’s no denying that online gambling has been a booming industry that has gone from strength to strength each year.

Mobile Apps and Gambling on the Go

With internet and mobile phones changing how we gamble, more and more companies have added apps to their repertoire of offerings. Mobile devices are now responsible for more than $100bn bets each year and by 2018, mobile gambling accounted for 40% of the total online gambling market. Many people have chosen to gamble using digital devices over in-person bookmakers and casinos as it offers so much more convenience and easy accessibility.

Technology has influenced gambling in this way, leading customers to expect such convenience from every company and validating the need for betting shops to incorporate mobile gambling into their services. In order to meet this demand, casino betting kiosks are being included in more and more betting shops and casinos to accelerate these services to customers. Digital betting kiosks are the perfect solution for casinos and the gambling industry as a whole, providing customisable options that mean cash drawers and receipt printers can also be included, among other features to suit different companies.

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