HISTORY OF GAMBLING (cont...)

Historical records and archeological evidence have suggested that gambling as entertainment has been around throughout history and have been an integral part of most civilizations and cultures alike. Anthropologists have gathered data from as early as the 20th century that have indicated that gambling was a presence during that time. The most illustrious societies have claimed a bit of the gambling aura, including ancient China, India, Rome, and ancient Egypt with their gambling artifacts. Detailed, accurate gambling treasures have been collected like sets of ivory dice dating back before the Year 0 from Thebes and plenty of writings on tablets that have marked gambling. Gambling was even against the law in some societies like England in the 14th century where King Henry VIII discovered that his foot soldiers were spending more time on placing bets than practicing their battle skills like firing guns.

The games of Blackjack and Poker came to fruition from shuffling paper money in China around the 900 A.D. period. Shuffling paper money soon gave way to card playing, which was introduced to Europe by the Mameluke Empire. Being Muslims, they did not believe in human personifications, so all cards with decorated with intricate designs instead that were popular on Muslim carpets. The cards soon spreadout to Italy and Spain, who in turn, began designing cards with royal figures that held positions of power in the courts. The Queen you see in today´s decks did not come about until the 1500´s when the French decided to replace one of the male cards with this female figure. As a result, the 52 card deck we use today is derived from the French.