History of Sports Betting

This is the first section of a four-part series by Jeremy Martinthat looks at the history of sports betting and where the industryis headed in the future. To reach Jeremy e-mail him at Jeremy@docsports.com.

Ever since there have been sports in America, there have beenpeople compelled to bet on the results. The founders of theUnited States were risk-takers by nature, hence the obviousattraction to gambling in all forms. Back then, people bet onmakeshift horse races, cockfights and bare-knuckle brawls. Colonistsfrom England had gambling in their blood since their fathersand grandfathers had been doing it for generations - not onlyin hopes of a profit but also as a form on leisure and entertainment.If there was a sport to be played, there was somebody somewherewho was willing to bet on it. Sports betting, it seems, wasa natural part of the culture of the early Americans.

Today, betting on sports is more popular then ever before.Last year, Nevada took in almost $2 billion in betting handlevia more than 150 sports books in the state. That is just asmall percentage, however, of the money bet worldwide. An ESPNThe Magazine article published in 2003 estimated that the onlinesports betting industry takes in $63 billion a year. It hasalso been estimated that one in every four Americans bets ona sporting event at least once a year and that 15 percent ofthe U.S. population bets on sports regularly.

There are many factors that have played a part in this growthand there have been many colorful characters that have madetheir contributions to the sports betting industry over theyears. One thing is for certain: sports betting is here to stay.And it will likely continue to expand exponentially in the future,despite the federal government's attempts to limit its growth.The possibilities, most agree, are endless.

"Sports bettors used to be a real small segment of thebetting public," says Bob Scucci, race and sports bookdirector for the Stardust Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. "Theindustry has elevated above that now. It goes through the entiremiddle class family to the professional [bettor] to the guyoff the street. It just permeates through every facet of society."

The Beginning

In regards to sports betting, horse racing saw the most widespreadpopularity throughout the 19th Century and into the early 20thCentury. In its initial stages racing was a sport that was enjoyedand wagered on by mostly the upper class. But after the CivilWar horse tracks began to dot the eastern landscape and bettorsfrom all economic sectors flocked to the tracks in droves.

Many enterprising bookmakers would start 'auction pools' inthe early days of horse racing which involved auctioning offbets for each horse in a race. But this format was short livedbecause bettors were out of luck if the horse that they wantedto wager on was already taken. The bookies - always consideredan innovative bunch when contrasted with professionals fromany other industry -- soon realized that setting odds on individualhorses would increase betting handle and, in turn, the bookie'shold. When there was overwhelming money on one horse, the bookmakerwould simply lower the odds to increase the attractiveness ofother horses in the race. This format is still in use todayalthough horse betting has steadily decreased in popularitysince the 1930s.

By the 1920s racing had reached its peak and there were morethan 300 racetracks in the U.S. in addition to thousand of 'poolhalls,' or off-track betting facilities, which were connectedto the tracks by telegraph wires. Here locals could place theirbets on horses at a multitude of racing venues around the country.Horse racing remained the most popular form of betting untilprofessional sports leagues began forming and capturing theattention of the nation's gamblers.

In the late 1800s, professional baseball began to gain popularityand, consequently, so did betting on the sport. Baseball 'poolcards' became a standard in urban areas in the East. These cards,similar to present-day parlay cards, offered bettors a plethoraof baseball betting options that they could wager on for amountsas little as 10 cents. But there was a catch with these poolcards: the odds were badly skewed in the houses' favor. Therewas no way for a bettor, no matter how sharp they might havebeen, to make a profit over an extended period of time. No oneseemed to care, however, as the cards continued to increasein popularity while the bookies' pockets continued to get fatter.

A fixing ignominy in the 1919 World Series - dubbed the 'BlackSox Scandal' by the media -- exposed the risk of professionalbaseball to be compromised by gamblers. Some players from thefavored Chicago White Sox were found to have fixed games atthe request of gamblers (Chicago lost the series to Cincinnati,5-3). The scandal rocked the nation and the general public wasgiven a negative impression of sports bettors, who were madeout to look like criminals who were trying to ruin the sanctityof the game for their own monetary advancement. While gamblingwas illegal, most considered sports betting to be a victimlesscrime before the scandal broke.

Baseball, however, pushed ahead despite the black eye and thebettors didn't waver in their zeal to have action on the games.If baseball lost anything because of the moral consequencesof the Black Sox Scandal and other cases involving fixed baseballgames, it wasn't reflected in the nationwide betting handle,which continued to grow progressively.

Even more people became interested in sports betting duringthe 'Golden Era' of sports in the 1920s. College football andcollege basketball were gaining huge popularity with bettors,as was boxing, and baseball was as well liked as ever. Poolcards were the favorite option of many bettors because of theirpromise of riches during the tough economic times of the GreatDepression. Football pool cards proved to be as popular as thebaseball cards even though bettors faced the challenge of pickinga winning combination of usually five or more games in hopesof a big payday. Just like the baseball cards, the odds forfootball cards were heavily in the bookie's favor.

"It was a stickup -- an absolute robbery, but you didn'tknow any better," says former Mirage Race & SportsBook Director Jimmy Vaccaro of the pool cards, which were referredto as 'spot sheets' in his native Pittsburgh. "The oddsfor a ten-team [parlay] were 100-1 and ties lost on every card.Now you can get 800-1 or 1000-1 [for a ten-team parlay]. Youplayed for the danger of it. You played for a huge payoff ifyou would ever get lucky."