Gambling has taken place, in some form or other, for hundreds if not thousands of years, and is inextricably linked to the history of humanity.
From ancient China where indications of rudimentary games of chance were discovered on tiles, to Egypt where the oldest known dice were excavated, to scenes on Greek and Roman pottery which indicate that betting on animal fights was common and animals would be bred for that sole purpose, humans love to gamble and do so at every opportunity.Gambling is one of mankind’s oldest activities, as evidenced by writings and equipment found in tombs and other places. It was regulated, which as a rule meant severely curtailed, in the laws of ancient China and Rome as well as in the Jewish Talmud and by Islam and Buddhism, and in ancient Egypt inveterate gamblers could be sentenced to forced labour in the quarries. The origin of gambling is considered to be divinatory: by casting marked sticks and other objects and interpreting the outcome, man sought knowledge of the future and the intentions of the gods. Gambling dates back to the Paleolithic period, before written history. In Mesopotamia the earliest six-sided dice date to about 3000 BCE. However, they were based on astragali dating back thousands of years earlier.