American gaming laws are heavily influenced by the history of gambling itself. Games of chance first came to the American colonies with the first settlers. Attitudes on gambling varied greatly from community to community, but there were no large-scale restrictions on the practice at the time. The origin of the word is believed to have come from card playing, insofar as it was considerably more difficult to cheat at such games when one held one’s cards over the table (above the board), rather than under. The word was also used at the same time in a figurative sense, although most of the early examples of its use make reference to. The History of Gambling. If you think gambling is a recent invention, you're way off base! Placing wagers is an art that's thousands, even tens of thousands, of years old. There's no guarantee that knowing more about gambling's past, present and future will help you win, but it sure makes for interesting reading.
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