Do you even remember the times when you had to go to the bookmakers’ club to gamble on your favourite team? Or dressing up to go to a casino gathering? Some sources state that online gambling in Britain became popular during the 1990’s. That was the era of land-based casinos building online sites and allowing for inexperienced gamblers to let loose of their cash, cloths, and inhibitions on the other side of the screen. According to an article from 2001 by the Independent, the estimates for total gambling profits in 2015 were set to £123bn. However, Britain’s contribution to the gross yield was only £2.0bn for the same period. What was life before the internet? Hopefully, this article would provide us with an answer.
In fact, it is difficult to remember gambling life before the internet as it seems like gambling has always been there. From the times of Henry VIII’s prohibition who claimed that gambling disturbed his soldiers off duty, and the Industrial Revolution when gambling was allowed for the wealthy members of the society and punished by law for the low-income class to the 90’s when casino clubs were ‘full of strange men, close to the pubs and not pleasant places to go’.
History proves an evidence that Queen Elizabeth 1 was the one to allow National Lotteries in 1569 with a Jackpot Sum of £5 000, so that the Queen had a reason to raise taxes. Moreover, James I’s expeditions were funded through lottery gains. During that time, the Parliament took a decision that lotteries could be used as a mean to collect revenue and a monopoly had to be secured to make sure the Crown obtained all profits. Between 1694 and 1826 lotteries were employed to stimulate bonds purchasing by introducing interest tickets, paying off government debt and funding the construction of Westminster Bridge and the British Museum. Further back in time, horse racing is event older tradition among Brits. The first evidences of horse racing date back to a folklore story of the Lanark races in Scotland in 1160. Despite that, the races we know today were only established in the 18th century.
The horse races become so popular that 122 towns took part in the organization. Nonetheless, the government stated that the poor members of the society were encouraging to miss work and to become lazy. That is why they introduce an entrance fee and a prize of £50 to restrict the access of the weaker people and turn the event into entertainment for the rich. Despite the efforts to limit the public, illegal races were often held. In 19th century, the wealthy individuals formed the market for ante-post betting.
At the same time, the domestic tourism was booming. The trend was encouraged by the Royalties who visited Bath, Brighton and Tunbridge Wells. All of the resorts owned gaming clubs. There was also an explicit law according to which gaming clubs in Bath must’ve paid a fine of £20 to the hospital if they organized illegal games of chance. At that time, Bath become the second largest gambling centre in the UK. The first one was obviously London.
By that period, gambling was still illegal for the poor but allowed for the riches and commercialized as some locations with gambling entities become specialized in gambling activities. However, the Gambling Committee was not established before the 1890s period. Some of their propositions included licensing, taxing and regulating bookmakers. Moreover, they advised for tote boards to be introduced on horse races as a substitute to bookmakers. Those suggestions only became legitimate laws in 1960 and 1928.
Summary
To round it off, betting has its history filled with dramatic contests, royalty trends and secretive deals. Law only became properly functional in the 20th century allowing low earners to take part in the games. Of course, gambling was legalised but not without taking into account the concerns for the well-being of British society.