The History of Sports Betting
With regards to betting in sports, the extensive popularity of horse racing was evident during the 19th century and into the early stages of the 20th century. During its early days, the upper class gambled and enjoyed on racing. Bettors from all sectors of society stormed the horse tracks at the end of the Civil War.
Auction pools were initiated by business-minded bookmakers who involved putting bids on individual horses in one race. But this format did not last as bettors were unlucky if the horse they wanted to bid on was favored. When one horse was the overwhelming favorite, bookmakers lowered the odds to strengthen the chances of the other horses. The format is still practiced today although the popularity of horse betting waned during the 1930s.
In the latter stages of the 1800s, baseball betting gained ground when professional baseball started to become popular. It became an ordinary thing for baseball 'pool cards' to be seen in the Eastern urban areas. For as little as ten cents, the cards, much like the current parlay cards, provided bettors an abundance of baseball betting alternatives. However, the odds greatly favored the house.
During the 1919 World Series, a fixing scandal, known as the 'Black Sox Scandal', was exposed to the media. The scandal shocked the nation and the general public placed a negative view of sports bettors, who were presumed like criminals out to destroy the dignity of baseball for their own financial sake.
Despite the scandal, the game of baseball moved on and sports bettors did not lose their passion to make the games more exciting. If baseball lost some steam because of the moral outcome of the Black Sox Scandal and other events which concerns fixing in baseball games, the handling of nationwide betting was seemingly unaffected as it constantly and progressively grew.
The 'Golden Era' in sports during the 1920s aroused more interested people into sports betting. Collegiate football and basketball were getting the attention of sports bettors, as well as boxing and baseball. Pool cards were the favored medium among many sports bettors because of their promising prospects for wealth during the difficult economic situation brought about by the Great Depression.
Football pool cards reached the same popularity status as the baseball cards despite the fact that sports gamblers faced the prospects of getting a winning combination of usually more than five games expecting a big payout. Similar to the baseball cards, the odds of football cards heavily favored the bookmakers.
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