Deepening Our Inquiry: Toward a Modern Gambling Culture

1. Deepening Our Inquiry: Toward a Modern Gambling Culture • Today’s Agenda • Short Lec • A History of Gambling in America: High Rollers (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

2. Enter Cards • In the first half of the second century, AD, bones, dice, and other games of gambling would give way in popularity to a new revolutionary form of gambling . . . • CARDS. • The whereabouts of cards andwho actually invented them remains a subject of debate with two central theories of origination, in Korea or China. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

3. Korean Hypothesis • The anthropologist Steward Culin, who is devoted to studying Asian and American Indian games, concluded that playing cards (6th century) descended from Korean divinatory arrows. • He hypothesized this because of the similarity of divinatory arrows and due to the their name “htou-tjyen”, meaning “fighting tablets,” • Most Korean packs of cards had eight suits of ten cards each; the suits were man, fish, crow, pheasant, antelope, star, rabbit, and horse. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

4. Korean Playing Cards • The cards were made from oiled silk and were approximately eight inches long and one half inch wide. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

5. Chinese Hypothesis: Card =Shen or Fan • The Chinese have not acknowledged thiscultural adaptation and legend holds that dotted cards were played as far back as the 8 century AD in China. • Supposedly cards arose as a game to occupy the emperor’s ladies of the house, all 1500 hundred of them. • Other hypothesis about card creation site India as the birthplace of cards. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

6. Cards A Rampant Explosion • It is likely that idea of gambling with cards filtered westward from china. • Leaving each culture free to develop its own kinds of games. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

7. From Italy to England • On theory holds, that cards spread via Venetian trade routes. These networks of ships and caravans spanned from India and China, through south of Russia, into the Saharan desert, and far west as England. • Early Italian decks had 52 cards, but the first, hand painted cards were extremely expensive (hundreds of dollars in today’s terms) • However, as the European Renaissance took hold along with the advent of block printing the price of a deck cards was minimized… • And by the late 1400’s card playing was set to became a world wide obsession. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

8. Rise of the Modern Deck • Credited with ushering in the modern playing deck are the French. • French playing card design jelled around 1480. The design here is from the 1500s. • Although there has been some general appearance modifications, French suit signs are immediately recognizable. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

9. Rise of the Modern Deck • Although the French have been credited with the creation of the modern deck it is unsure who personally should be given credit. • A former knight and hero, a royal secretary, or wealthy merchant. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

10. Card’s Come to the New-World • According to legend, Spanish voyagers brought cards to the New world during Columbus’s 1492 transatlantic journey. • But dropped them overboard believing that divine anger would doom their ships. • Spanish playing cards would eventually filter northward during and after colonialism possession. • And in years to come, English colonist’s would further add to the spawning of a new gambling nation. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

11. Gambling Become’s A Profession: The 17th Century Gambler • In 1654, a well-known gambler, the Chevalier de Méré was perplexed by some seemingly inconsistent results in a popular game of chance. • Why, if it is profitable to wager that a 6 will appear within 4 rolls of one die, is it not then profitable to wager that double 6’s will appear within 24 rolls of two dice? • De Méré took his question to his friend Blaise Pascal. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

12. Stimulated by de Méré’s question, Pascal began a now famous chain of correspondence with fellow mathematician Pierre de Fermat. It was evident that no existing theory adequately explained these phenomenon. What resulted was the foundation on which the theory of probability rests today (crudely). The Mathematicians Blaise Pascal Pierre de Fermat

13. At it’s most basic form probability is the likelihood that an event will occur or for the gambler – what is the chance that I will win. Essentially, probability is used for modelling situations when the result of an event, realized under the same circumstances, produces different results (i.e., typically throwing a dice or a coin). Probability & Rolling Dice

14. Probability (contd). • Lets say , we want to determine the probability of rolling a 1; so the number of favorable results is one. • And because there are six sides to a die, so there are six possible results. • Similarly, the probability that you will roll either a 1 or a 2 on a single roll is 2/6, since there are two favorable results (i.e., a one or a two) and six possible outcomes.

15. Lottery Example • A lottery works by picking 6 numbers from 1 to 49. How many combinations of 6 numbers could you choose? • To many to count…. But calculating your probability of winning, we know that our odds are 1/13,983,816

16. Probability theory spawned considerable mathematic progress, but it did not have an immediate impact on the society of gamblers • Most gamblers took no notice. While others hoped that mathematicians might cure the reckless of their passion for cards and dice with a strong dose of calculation (Defoe, 1719). • There were a few exceptions, however: • Marquis de Dangeau (1638-1720) took advantage of the new knowledge.

17. He played to win and he based his play on rational calculation, thus bringing the bourgeois value of financial accumulation to the gaming table. Marquis de Dangeau

18. Thus, the meaning and implications of probability theory gradually seeped into the collective consciousness of western society over the next 200 years. • Whereby, gambling for the most part, gradually lost its religious, divinative connotations and became more of a recreational pursuit or economical pursuit. • Ultimately, probability theory allowed for another path… Using a discrepancy between true odds and actual payouts to carve out a statistically guaranteed profit. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XFMCgeI7c

19. A Short Look at Probability Theory and the game of Roulette Start at 4:12 go to 10:00 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-563808319704458028&q=gambling+and+law+of+large+numbers&total=7&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

20. The Ridotto Revolution: The First Casino • First Noted 1567 • ridotto = ridurre, to reduce, close, or make private • Originally aristocratic gathering places for social games • Ridotto opens in San Moise Palace (Northern Italy) • First legal sanctioned gambling house (1630s). (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

21. Floorplan • Entrance, rooms for refreshment • Six smaller rooms • Also had the “chamber of sighs” • Open 8 am to midnight depending on season

22. Patrons • All gamblers (except nobility) had to wear a three-cornered hat, cape, and mask • High minimum stakes • Curious visitors, nobles, prostitutes, pimps, usurers, police informants, and degenerate gamblers

23. Closure and aftermath

24. Anti-Ridotto sentiment • Concerns over nobles’ gambling problems • 1774: Giorgio Pisani, reform-minded Barnabot (card dealer/ hustler / loan shark) makes a motion… • “To preserve the piety, sound discipline, and moderate behavior” close the Ridotto • And eventually Ridotto is shut down (November 27, 1774). • Great Council votes to 720 to 21 close

25. A Fitting Epitaph? “Usurers look as sour as lemons, shop-keepers can’t sell a thing, mask-makers are starving, and the Barnabot noblemen, accustomed to dealing cards ten hours a day, find their hands are withering away. Clearly, no state can keep going without the aid of vice.”

26. The Ridotti Legacy • Hundreds of illegal Ridotti, known then as… • Casini • Casino= “small house,” clubhouse • By end of century,136 casini’s operating in Venice

27. Toward the Future: Poker a Home Grown Western Game • The birth of Poker has been convincingly dated to the first or second decade of the 19th century. • It appeared in former French territory centered in New Orleans which was ceded to the infant United States by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. • Its cradle was the gambling saloon in general and, in particular, those famous or notorious floating saloons, the Mississippi steamers, which began to ply their trade from about 1811. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

28. Poker (cont). • From the middle of the 19th century Poker experienced rapid changes and innovations as it became more widespread through the upheavals of the Civil War. • Stud, or ‘stud-horse’ Poker, a cowboy invention said to have been introduced around Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, first appears in The American Hoyle of 1864. • Speaking about stud poker Doc Holliday said: "Five Card Stud - one down, four up - is the cleanest, the clearest, and the only true game. It requires more instinct, more judgment, and more raw nerve than any other form. The rest is for amateurs and with extreme prejudice to be scrupulously avoided.“ http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8yDgkvWh3JQ (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

29. Do Gambler’s Really Know the Odds…? (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

30. Gambling Games, Skill, Pure Chance, Some Skill. • Games of Pure chance: • Dice • Bingo Halls • Keno • Roulette • Craps • Etc • While luck may help you win, repeated play ultimately brings ruin. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

31. Let’s Look at the Slot/EGM/VLT • Essentially the same machine • Run by a computer • Some games may offer a subtle more skill (i.e., video poker). • But all ultimately electronic gaming machines can not be beaten. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

32. EGM & The Random # Generator • The odds of a symbol landing on the pay line have little relationship to the number of images on the reel / video or otherwise. • Instead the computer generates a number between 1 and 64 and maps this onto the physical reel. • Perhaps only 1 out of 64 virtual stops lends itself to the diamond. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

33. Gambling Early Origins Summation • Gambling can be said to embedded in our brain and psyche. • Gambling derives from game play, which goes back 10s of thousands of years. • Gambling is mentioned in the oldest written documents and oral traditions, so it is at least 4000 – 5000 years old and probably much older. • Gambling is found in almost all cultures. It is somewhat less common in nomadic herding & tribal societies and more common in capitalistic states with money, leisure time, and socio-economic inequality. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

34. Where does this leave us? • In all, this leads us to the question of what is gambling? • Is it just a cultural pass time. • Is it part of human heritage. • Is it about playing games. • Is it evil, is it played for amusement, to gain notoriety, to understand the future, ect. • Thus, how do we define gambling? (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

35. Defining Gambling • The definition of “gambling” depends somewhat on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. • Currently, in western society, it has largely an economic definition and meaning. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

36. Current Definition used Today. • It generally refers to: wagering money or something of material value on something with an uncertain outcome in hope of winning additional money or material goods. • Furthermore, The outcome is typically evident within a short period of time. • The wagering is typically done on things with a negative mathematical expectation. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

37. But IT Excludes • Emotional or physical risk-taking where money or material goods are not being risked (e.g., skydiving, running for office, asking someone for a date, etc.). • Usually excludes all forms of long-term “investment” (stock market, real estate) with positive expected returns and economic utility. • Usually excludes starting a new business, as time and effort are being ‘wagered’ in addition to money and material goods and the outcome is not determined for a considerable period of time. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).

38. But IT Excludes • Usually excludes buying insurance, as the primary intent of the purchase is to protect against loss, rather than to collect or ‘win’. • Usually excludes buying raffle tickets (if the primary intent of the purchase is to support a worthy cause). • Why the exclusions, have we just witnessed the exclusions as being integral to the origins and history of gambling. • Is it because gambling can then be controlled, sanctioned, psychologized. (Solowoniuk 2007-2009).