By Emilee White
Gambling had has long been rooted in society, approximately 85 percent of adults in the United States gamble each year, but where did it all begin?
The 19th century saw the rise of sports betting. In the earlier part of the century, betting on horses was a popular sport to wager bets, and in 1876 when professional baseball was established, so was traditional sports betting. By the 20th century, sports betting was at peak-popularity and the more sports grew, so did the betting market. But just because sports betting was available, that doesn’t mean it was legal. That doesn’t mean it was illegal either.
There never were really any laws established around sports betting and even though it was such a lucrative market, especially during the “Golden Era” of sports in the 1920s, law enforcement usually didn’t pay any attention. In 1931, Nevada became the first state to actually legalize gambling and by 1986, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana were the only other states to legalize gambling as well.
As sports betting started to grow and become more legitimate throughout the U.S. — and the world — it began to change as well. In the 1940s, math teacher Charles McNeil decided to become a bookmaker, or “bookie”, in Chicago and it was there where he came up with a new way of placing bets on football games. Sports Illustrated reported that when McNeil entered the betting scene, his idea was a “variation of his own personal system for analyzing bets: He would rate two teams and then estimate by how many points one would defeat the other.”
McNeil’s way of betting began to catch attention and the point spread was established, first with football, then college basketball. By 1950, McNeil was out of the bookmaking business, but the point spread has remained his legacy and continues to evolve, even to this day with a variety of different types of wagers.
Unfortunately, there was a shift in the sports betting world and the the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, (PASPA) of 1992 was established, banning sports betting in the U.S, except for the four states who had previously legalized it. 25 years later, the Supreme Court overturned PASPA and sports betting hit the market hard. 26 of the 50 states have already legalized sports betting, and even as the landscape continues to change, McNeil’s advice is worth keeping in mind.
“There are three things a gambler needs: money, guts, and brains. If you don’t have one, you’re dead,” McNeil once said. “I’ve got all three.”
Photo Credit: Nick_Nick
