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 No one knows exactly when fans and spectators stared to bet on sport events outcome but it seems that sports betting has been around for centuries.
The most recent recordings of sports betting activities date back from the 19th century when horse racing was the most popular form of betting in Europe, especially in United Kingdom. During the same 19th century sports betting also gained popularity in the United States thanks to the World Series of baseball which was the most important sport competition.
In 1960s, the television turned its attention to the sports, bringing the live sport events into the life of middle class fans that were not always able to get on the stadiums or on the race tracks. Now live sport competition were part of everyday life, marking a new era in the sportsbook history. In the 1970s thanks to gambling tax elimination several Las Vegas casinos introduced sportsbooks as additional activities encouraging gamblers to wager on sports. The next step was made in 1990s when sports betting went online. At first just few online bookmakers were available on the Internet, but in just few years the number of sports betting sites reached three figures. United States responded to the exponentially growth of the online gambling popularity (including online sportsbook) with drastically measures, making online gambling illegal. The United States gambling issue tempered down the extraordinary expansion of the online sportsbook industry, but didn’t stop it.
Except United States and few other countries that have a negative perspective regarding online sports betting, millions of fans and betting lovers continue to bet all over the world, thousands of new bettors joining them each day. Now sports betting is accessible to anyone from the comfort of his own home, at low costs and with a new advantage: the possibility to compare odds from different bookmakers and to place a bet only on the best odds. |
