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Victorian era gave us many great inventions that we still use today - bicycles, Morse code, ice cream as we know it, and even the telephone. The era of Queen Victoria's reign, though, had some pretty bizarre happenings too. Such as ladies getting stuck in doorways because of their extra big dress.

• Literature During The Victorian Era
• Women During The Victorian Era
• Gambling During The Victorian Era Timeline
• Gambling During The Victorian Era Movie

The history of gambling in the United KingdomSlot machine games for fun. goes back centuries, as do efforts to deplore it, and regulate it.

Casino Gambling’s Golden Era – the Early Days After the Revolutionary War, all manners of gambling continued to flourish, meeting little opposition from lawmakers and the public in general. During the early 1800s gambling on riverboats along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers became fashionable. The Penny Mobs were a Glaswegian gang during the Victorian Era, who would rob someone even just for a single penny. This is one of the reasons they got their name, another reason was that the crime rate was so high, that if the authorities caught someone committing a crime they would just be fined one penny. But answer yes or no depends on which form of gambling, and what laws. There were regulations imposed on gambling and betting.

• 2Tudor and Stuart eras
• 520th century
• 621st century

Regulation[edit]

Gambling was legal under English common law but the government worried that it interfered with military training. The Unlawful Games Act 1541 made virtually all gambling illegal. The law was never enforced, but it did mean that gambling debts could not be collected through court action. Additional acts of 1710, 1728, 1738, 1739, and 1744 focused on financial securities, illegal lotteries, and various popular gambling games. The Gaming Act 1845 legalized games of skill, made cheating a crime, simplified the regulation of gambling houses, and made gambling contracts legally unenforceable. Betting establishments became popular, despite new laws in 1853, 1854, 1874 and 1906. Bookmakers responded by hiring runners who were faster than the police. The Racecourse Betting Act of 1928 regulated betting on horse races, and the 1934 Betting and Lotteries Act took the greyhounds into account. Football pools became increasingly popular, and they were taxed through the Pool Betting Duty of 1947. The decline of the moralistic political forces led to the Betting and Gaming Act 1960 which legalized private casinos. The government set up its National Lottery in 1994.^[1]

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Tudor and Stuart eras[edit]

Spas such as Bath, Epsom, and Tunbridge Wells became popular after 1550 for the rich. They enjoyed lawn bowling and dancing, as well as medical benefits. Puritan pamphleteers such as Philip Stubbes warned that these 'tubs of pleasure' made drinking, gambling, and illicit sex available to all visitors.^[2][3]

Although Restoration England 1660–1689 featured a revulsion against Puritanism, gambling was seen as a stupid folly. Playwrights depicted gambling at dice, cards, and the tables as an aristocratic folly. After 1688 plays portrayed gambling more as vice than folly. Comedies and periodicals in the early 18th century portrayed gamblers disapprovingly.^[4]

Lotteries[edit]

In 1566–1569 Queen Elizabeth launched England's first national public lottery to raise money to repair the harbors. However, only 10 percent of the 400,000 lots were purchased. Local elites were often hostile, because of distrust of the government and concerns about the immorality of gambling.^[5]The lottery was promoted by scrolls posted throughout the country showing sketches of the prizes. The tickets were sold in 1566–1569, and the prize money was awarded in 1569, so each player got his money back and in effect was making an interest-free loan. In later decades, the government sold the lottery ticket rights to brokers, who in turn hired agents and runners to sell them. These brokers eventually became the modern day stockbrokers for various commercial ventures. Most people could not afford the entire cost of a lottery ticket, so the brokers would sell shares in a ticket; this resulted in tickets being issued with a notation such as 'Sixteenth' or 'Third Class'.^[6]

Many private lotteries were held, including raising money for The Virginia Company of London to support its settlement in America at Jamestown. The English State Lottery ran from 1694 until 1826. Thus, the English lotteries ran for over 250 years, until the government, under constant pressure from the opposition in parliament, declared a final lottery in 1826. This lottery was held up to ridicule by contemporary commentators as 'the last struggle of the speculators on public credulity for popularity to their last dying lottery'.^[7]

Horse racing[edit]

Horse racing has been a favorite sport and gambling venue since Tudor days. ^[8][9] The earliest recorded races were two-horse matches held at Chester in 1539.^[10] . King Charles II was an avid sportsman who gave Newmarket its prominence – he was a jockey in 1671 and built a palace there for his convenience.^[11]Ascot Racecourse started in 1711 under the patronage of Queen Anne. They involved multiple horses, with betting by the spectators. By 1750 the Jockey Club was formed to control the Newmarket, preventing dishonesty, and making for a level field.^[12]Epsom Derby began in 1780. The five classic races began with the St Leger Stakes in 1776. The system was complete in 1814 with five annual races.^[13] The availability of railways facilitated the rapid growth of the sport, making travel easy for the horses and running specials that attracted large audiences.^[14]

In the 18th century, horse racing became well-established. Newmarket and the Jockey Club set the standards but most of the racing took place For small cash prizes and enormous local prestige in landowners’ fields and in the rising towns. The system of wagering was essential to the funding and the growth of the industry, and all classes participated from the poor to royalty. High society was in control, and they made a special effort to keeping the riff-raff out and the criminal element away from the wagering. With real money at stake, the system needed skilled jockeys, trainers, grooms and experts at breeding, thereby opening new prestigious careers for working-class rural men. Every young. ambitious stable boy could dream of making it big.^[15]

18th century[edit]

The state lottery was a remarkable success in the 18th century, Starting with the Queen Anne lotteries of 1710–14. This form of gambling combined the advantages of rational calculation and inexpensive fantasy with quick results. Unlike card games, there were no angry losers. Unlike racing, there was no behind the scenes fixing of outcomes. Lotteries brought in large sums to the Treasury, and thus provided the funding for numerous major wars. There were seven lottery loans from 1711 to 1714 in the reign of Queen Anne which yielded to the Government £9,000,000, minus the £2,734,000 paid to the winners And some overheads. Additional wars necessitated additional lotteries. Much larger sums were involved in the lotteries that financed the American war, 1775-1783.^[16]

Lotteries loosened the money pouches of previously uninvolved individuals. Frequent purchasers of lottery tickets were called 'adventurers', And then their friends were the center of untold conversations about what they would do with the fortunes they were about to win. Advertising for the lottery help funded fund the newspapers, and reports on the winner helped sell copies. Britain had succumbed to 'gambling mania'.^[17] With the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Britton entered a century of peace, and lotteries were no longer necessary to finance wars. Government lotteries were abolished in 1826.^[18]

In the private sphere, distinctly different styles of gambling took place in the upper, middle and working classes. In the upper classes, gambling the family fortune was very common, with high-stakes and high losses--called 'deep play'. The venue was private clubs, which had a atmosphere that controlled against violence or vehement behavior.^[19][20] The most notorious case was the politician Charles James Fox In three years in his early 20s he ran up £120,000 of losses at the faro tables. Fox was a highly influential politician supported by very rich political allies who regularly covered his losses, but his political enemies rhetorically attacked his heavy losses.^[21]

In the middle class, a business orientation meant that recreational gambling at home was moderate, with limited stakes, and the goal of camaraderie and genial conversation rather than winning money. The middle classes rejected blood sports, and discovered that music, conversation and cards suited their taste for exercise of intellect and ability. Young people were allowed to play too, so they could learn to calculate quickly in their minds, and account for money lost and won. ^[22]

19th century[edit]

Literature During The Victorian Era

Historian Andrew August finds that, 'In the face of efforts of radicals and middle-class reformers, drink, gambling and raucous conviviality remained central to mid-Victorian working-class leisure.'^[23] Before the railways, horse racing only attracted owners and a few people living near the tracks. Immediate information was essential to betting, and was only available at the racetracks. The telegraph disseminated the information instantly across Britain, and the railroad attracted audiences, and allowed the horses to be moved from place to place quickly. The number of active racing horses doubled between 1837 in 1869, prize money increased, and racing was now a national sport. Incomes were hire, leaving workers with more money to spend on drink, sex and gambling. About 150 betting houses served the working-class neighborhoods in London in the 1850s, accepting small bets, and making payoffs in a matter of minutes, allowing repeated betting on race days. When reformers made bidding houses illegal, the action moved to pubs and into the city streets.^[24][25]

The better educated gamblers focused on racing, where random luck was less important and where skill, the assimilation of fresh information, and analysis of previous results provided an intellectual stimulus. Numerous sporting magazines appeared, reaching a total circulation of about 300,000 by the 1880s. The Sporting Times operated 1865-1932, with its distinctive salmon-colored paper immediately identifying a gambler. Sporting Life was the most popular, starting as a weekly in 1859 and becoming a daily in 1883. Horse racing was the core of its content, but it covered many other sports as well. It could not compete with the Internet and closed in 1998.^[26]

Gambling at cards in establishments popularly called casinos became the rage during the Victorian era. The evangelical and reform movements specifically targeted such establishments in their efforts to stop gambling, drinking, and prostitution.^[27]

Upper-class England gambled heavily, usually in swank private clubs in the St. James district of the West End of London.

20th century[edit]

By the late 19th century, bookmakers could speed up betting cycle by using telegraphic results from racetracks so that city workers across the country could make multiple bets on racing day, absorb their losses or take their winnings and bet again in a matter of minutes. Bookmakers would set up a base in friendly pub, hire runners to tell what the odds were at this hour, collect bets, and pay off the winners, while lookouts warned about policeman. The Street Betting Act of 1906 was the counterattack by the moralistic middle-class which looked askance at this new form of gambling. The bets were small, but the excitement was high. The police were reluctant to enforce it, or could take a payoff for looking the other way. The working-class communities strongly supported the bookmakers who were providing entertainment and employment.^[28] The Betting and Gaming Act act of 1960 finally legalized off-course betting. Turnover increased by 154% the next year, with over 13,000 licenses for betting shops in operation. Bingo is also legitimized.^[29]

Labour Party[edit]

In the early 20th century the parliamentary Labour Party vigorously opposed off-track betting on horses using bookmakers. Middle class reformers were trying to shield the working class from evil and harmful effects, drawing upon ethical socialism, Nonconformist Puritanism, and secular puritanical values. ^[30] Some Labour MPs laughed at this approach, but after 1920, with the rise of union influence on the Labour Party, the position changed to one of relative toleration and acceptance, using the slogan, 'There Ought not to be One Law for the Rich and Another for the Poor which Is the Case Today.' The laws were deliberately fashioned to control and restrict the working classes, and now they had a political vehicle to object. Deeply embedded in working-class culture was, 'a boisterous proletarian lifestyle dominated by drunkenness, street-fighting, horse racing, boxing and gambling.' These men were more comfortable with aristocratic Tories who gambled heavily in their upper-class clubs, as opposed to the middle class do-gooders, clergymen and philanthropists who ran the Liberal party.^[31] Furthermore, Constituency Labour Parties depended on lotteries and bingo for the revenue to keep operating and pay salaries to their full-time agents.^[32]

Greyhound racing[edit]

Middle-class reformers were outraged,^[33] and the working-class delighted, with the emergence in the mid-1920s of an entertaining new sport and betting opportunity: Greyhound racing. At first it seemed modern, glamorous, and American, but the middle class lost interest when working-class audiences took over.^[34][35]

Second World War[edit]

The experience of total war 1939 to 1945 meant much less leisure and highly restricted transportation, So attendance fell at gambling venues such as racing tracks for horses and greyhounds. However the volume of betting remained high. Anti-gambling organizations used the national emergency to shut down many legitimate gambling activities, but the early successes in curtailing horse racing, greyhound racing and football-- which were the main venues for gambling-- were soon reversed as the government saw gambling as a necessary psychological outlet in a time of highly restricted leisure opportunities. There were new opportunities as well, such as 'unity' football pools and a larger number of illegal neighborhood bookmakers. For the first time there was heavy gambling on Irish horse races, which were not interrupted during the war. The government provided extra petrol needed for the movement of racing horses and dogs.^[36] The greyhound racing industry peaked in 1946 with attendances estimated to be around 75 million based on an the annual totalisator turnover of £196,431,430.^[37] The figure equates to £8 billion today (2018), using a historic inflation calculator.^[38] Audiences started to decline with the opening of betting shops in 1961, despite a mini boom in the late 1980s.^[39]

Roger Munting points out that in the 1980s:

Gambling is big business in contemporary Britain. Betting shops are seen in every high street, bingo games occupy redundant cinemas, every national newspaper provides a racing service and news of football pools; many operate their own form of lottery. There have even been proposals that a lottery competition provide marginal finance for the National Health Service.^[40]

21st century[edit]

Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom remains a popular industry in Great Britain with attendances at around 3.2 million at over 5,750 meetings in 2007. There are currently 21 registered stadiums regulated by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain^[41] and a further four independent tracks in Britain.

Gambling Act of 2005[edit]

The Gambling Act of 2005 established the Gambling Commission and controls all forms of gambling. It gives authority for licensing gambling to local elected authorities. Its goals include breaking links with crime; ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited. There is a shift from legislative control to market control. This has hurt Las Vegas style casinos and internet gambling sites. ^[42]

Problem gambling[edit]

The 'British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007', conducted by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, found approximately 0.6 percent of the adult population had problem gambling issues—the same percentage as in 1999.^[43] The highest prevalence of problem gambling was found among those who participated in spread betting (14.7%), fixed odds betting terminals (11.2%) and betting exchanges (9.8%).^[43]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^Charles Arnold-Baker (2015). The Companion to British History. Taylor & Francis. p. 317.
2. ^Heasim Sul, 'The tubs of pleasure: Tudor and Stuart Spas.' International journal of the history of sport 16.1 (1999): 148-158.
3. ^Sydney Carter, 'Phillip Stubbes: An Elizabethan Puritan' History Today (April 1953) 3#4 pp 271-276.
4. ^ James E. Evans, 'A sceane of uttmost vanity': The Spectacle of Gambling in Late Stuart Culture.' Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 31.1 (2002): 1-20. Online
5. ^ David Dean, 'Elizabeth’s Lottery: Political Culture and State Formation in Early Modern England.' Journal of British Studies 50.3 (2011): 587-611. Online
6. ^John Ashton, A History of English Lotteries, (1893) online
7. ^Ashton, A History of English Lotteries, (1893) p 274
8. ^Mike Huggins, Flat racing and British society, 1790-1914: A social and economic history (Routledge, 2014).
9. ^Anne Holland, Horse racing in Britain and Ireland (2014.)
10. ^Paul Hurley (2014). Chester in the 1950s: Ten Years that Changed a City. Amberley. p. 69.
11. ^John Eunson (2012). Sporting Scots: How Scotland Brought Sport to the World–and the World Wouldn't Let Us Win. p. 88.
12. ^Robert Black (1891). The Jockey Club and Its Founders: In Three Periods. Smith, Elder.
13. ^J.S. Fletcher (1902). The history of the St. Leger stakes, 1776-1901.
14. ^Mike Huggins (2013). Horseracing and the British 1919-30. Manchester UP. p. 106.
15. ^Mike Huggins, Horse Racing and British Society in the Long Eighteenth Century (2018(, see Online review
16. ^Harvey Edward Fisk (1920). English Public Finance from the Revolution of 1688: With Chapters on the Bank of England. Bankers Trust Company. p. 109.
17. ^Bob Harris, 'Lottery Adventuring in Britain, c. 1710–1760.' English Historical Review 133.561 (2018): 284-322.
18. ^Roger Munting, 'Betting and Business; The Commercialisation of Gambling in Britain.' Business History 31.4 (1989): 67-85.
19. ^Cheryl Bolen, 'The Great Georgian Gambling Epidemic' The Regency Plume (May-June 2006)online
20. ^George Otto Trevelyan (1880). The Early History of Charles James Fox. pp. 527–28.
21. ^Gillian Russell, 'Faro's Daughters': Female Gamesters, Politics, and the Discourse of Finance in 1790s Britain.' Eighteenth-Century Studies 33.4 (2000): 481-504. Online
22. ^Janet E. Mullin, A sixpence at whist: gaming and the English middle classes 1680–1830 (2015)
23. ^Andrew August, The British Working Class 1832-1940 (2017) p. 51-54
24. ^ David C. Itzkowitz, 'Victorian bookmakers and their customers.' Victorian Studies 32.1 (1988): 7-30. Online
25. ^Wray Vamplew, The turf: A social and economic history of horse racing (1976).
26. ^James Lambie, The Story of Your Life: A History of the Sporting Life Newspaper (1859-1998) (2010) Excerpts
27. ^Peter Bailey, Leisure and class in Victorian England: Rational recreation and the contest for control, 1830–1885 (Routledge, 2014)
28. ^John Briggs etc (1996). Crime and Punishment in England: An Introductory History. UCL Press. pp. 201–2.
29. ^Jan McMillen (2005). Gambling Cultures: Studies in History and Interpretation. Routledge. pp. 125–26.
30. ^Gregg McClymont, 'Socialism, Puritanism, Hedonism: The Parliamentary Labour Party's Attitude to Gambling, 1923–31.' Twentieth Century British History 19.3 (2008): 288-313.
31. ^Martin Pugh (2010). Speak for Britain!: A New History of the Labour Party. p. 22.
32. ^ Keith Laybourn, '‘There Ought not to be One Law for the Rich and Another for the Poor which Is the Case To‐day’: The Labour Party, Lotteries, Gaming, Gambling and Bingo, c. 1900–c. 1960s.' History 93.310 (2008): 201-223.
33. ^ Norman Baker, 'Going to the Dogs—Hostility to Greyhound Racing in Britain: Puritanism, Socialism and Pragmaticism.' Journal of Sport History 23.2 (1996): 97-119. Online
34. ^Mike Huggins, 'Going to the dogs.' History Today 56.5 (2006): 31+.
35. ^Daryl Leeworthy, 'A diversion from the new leisure: greyhound racing, working-class culture, and the politics of unemployment in inter-war South Wales.' Sport in History 32.1 (2012): 53-73.
36. ^Mike Huggins, 'Sports gambling during the Second World War: a British entertainment for critical times or a national evil?.' International Journal of the History of Sport 32.5 (2015): 667-683.
37. ^Particulars of Licensed tracks, table 1 Licensed Dog Racecourses. Licensing Authorities. 1946.
38. ^''Stock Exchange.' Times, 17 Apr. 1947, p. 9'. The Times Digital Archive.
39. ^'We are the governing body for licensed greyhound racing'. Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
40. ^Munting, 'Betting and Business; The Commercialisation of Gambling in Britain.' (1989) p 67.
41. ^'About GBGB'. Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
42. ^Roy Light, 'The Gambling Act 2005: Regulatory containment and market control.' The Modern Law Review 70.4 (2007): 626-653.
43. ^ ^abWardle, Heather; Sproston, Kerry; Orford, Jim; Erens, Bob; Griffiths, Mark; Constantine, Rebecca; Pigott, Sarah (September 2007). 'British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007'(PDF). National Centre for Social Research. p. 10. Archived from the original(PDF) on November 28, 2009.

Further reading[edit]

• Ashton, John. The History of Gambling in England (1898) online free
• Baker, Norman. 'Going to the Dogs'—Hostility to Greyhound Racing in Britain: Puritanism, Socialism and Pragmatism,' Journal of Sport History 23 (1996): 97-118.
• Clapson, Mark. A Bit of a Flutter: Popular Gambling and English Society, c.1823–1961 (Manchester UP, 1992)
• Clarke, C.F.C. Greyhounds and Greyhound Racing: A Comprehensive and Popular Survey of Britain’s Latest Sport (1934)
• Dixon, David. From Prohibition to Regulation: Bookmaking, Anti-Gambling, and the Law (1991) online
• Forrest, David. 'An economic and social review of gambling in Great Britain.' Journal of Gambling Business and Economics 7.3 (2013): 1-33.
• Forrest, David. 'The past and future of the British football pools.' Journal of Gambling Studies 15.2 (1999): 161-176.
• Huggins, Mike. 'Betting, sport and the British, 1918–1939.' Journal of Social History (2007): 283-306.
• Huggins, Mike. '“Everybody’s going to the dogs”? The middle classes and greyhound racing in Britain between the wars.' Journal of Sport History 34.1 (2007): 96-120. Online
• Huggins, Mike. Flat racing and British society, 1790–1914: A social and economic history (Routledge, 2014)
• Laybourn, Keith. Working-Class Gambling in Britain c. 1906-1960s: The Stages of the Political Debate (2007).
• Huggins, Mike. Horseracing and the British 1919–1939 (Manchester UP, 2002).
• Munting, Roger. 'Social opposition to gambling in Britain: an historical overview.' International Journal of the History of Sport 10.3 (1993): 295-312. Online
• Munting, Roger. An economic and social history of gambling in Britain and the USA (Manchester UP, 1996).
• Reith, Gerda. 'The culture of gambling in Great Britain: Legislative and social change.' in Crime, Addiction and the Regulation of Gambling (Brill Nijhoff, 2008). 165-179.
• Richard, Jessica. The romance of gambling in the eighteenth-century British novel (Springer, 2011).
• Schwartz, David G. Roll The Bones: The History of Gambling (2006), scholarly history with global perspective excerpt; UK is covered in chapters 6, 8, 15

As of right now, the British gambling industry is worth £14.5 billion. That includes revenue generated from sports betting, casino games, bingo, lottery, and all remote gambling. That’s what I call a mega-industry, but UK gambling history has taken a long road full of twists and turns to get where it is today.

Throughout British history, gambling has been both embraced and reviled in different periods. Kings wrestled with their conscience, punters were both permitted and banned from gambling, and as with all things in Britain, the rich have always played by a different set of rules than the poor and working classes.

As a history enthusiast, I decided to take a detour into the past to trace the roots of gambling in the UK from its origins until today. Walk with me, and I’ll tell you how it all came to be.

Gambling in Ancient England

• Henry VIII is one of the most infamous English kings, mostly because of the six wives he had. He also played a key role in the history of gambling in England. He banned it outright because he believed that it distracted soldiers from their duties. However, that gambling ban did not apply to King Henry himself. He gambled so much that he once lost the Jesus Bells of the Old St. Paul Church while playing dice.
• Ironically, Queen Elizabeth I, Henry’s daughter, legalized the first English lottery in 1569. The purpose was to raise taxes to build the country. Isn’t it funny how, even back then, taxes could cause governments to do complete U-turns?
• As English kings looked to expand their reach across the world, James I allowed the Virginia Company to fund expeditions abroad via lotteries. The purpose was to fund expeditions into the New World (America). So, we could say that these lotteries and the actions they funded changed the course of history, to some extent.
• Lotteries run by Charles I and his courtiers funded the London water supply. Even back in the 17^th century, gambling proceeds were funding key social projects, as the National Lottery does today.
• Today, the British monarchy is not associated with gambling, per se, but it is very much associated with horse racing. In fact, it is well known that Queen Elizabeth II has earned millions from her stable of racehorses.

Gambling During the Victorian Era

Victorian times in England were eventful, to say the least. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing, Charles Darwin floated his ideas on the origins of the species, and all kinds of new inventions and scientific breakthroughs happened.

During this period, the wealthy began to bet on horse races and the stock market. The poor and working classes were banned from playing. They pitched pennies and placed illegal wagers instead.

Victorian times in England were also Puritanical and conservative. After several lottery frauds and a general concern about the decline of morality in society, the government passed two laws which effectively banned gambling, The Gaming Act (1845) and The Betting Act (1853).

These laws did not apply to the wealthy aristocracy. They were still free to place wagers on horse races on-course. Back then, there was nothing like the betting shops we see all over the country today. These were gentlemen’s bets made at the tracks and settled there and then.

Gambling in the 21st Century and Beyond

As with most attempts at gambling prohibition, the Victorian-era prohibition gave rise to a large underground betting scene. This led to the passing of the Street Betting Act (1906), which ultimately failed to clamp down on underground gambling.

The British government eventually realized that prohibition was pointless and, in an attempt to reduce crime and raise tax revenue, they legalized betting shops in 1960. This was in the midst of a post-war economic boom when living standards were rapidly improving, and the British middle class was growing.

During the ‘60s, the Gaming Board for Great Britain was set up to regulate casinos, bingo halls, and real money gambling arcades. There were still strict regulations on advertising these facilities, only small text ads were allowed.

Women During The Victorian Era

In 1988, the UK government toyed with the idea of a lottery to fund the UK National Health Service. The idea never became a reality, though, due to a number of legal reasons.

Gambling During The Victorian Era Timeline

UK Gambling From the ‘90s Until Today

• The next big event to happen in British gambling history was the formation of the National Lottery in 1993. The first draw took place on November 19^th, 1994, and the jackpot was worth £5,874,778. It’s estimated that 70% of UK adults regularly play the lottery today. “The Lotto” raises huge amounts of money for charity, and the revenue it generates is close to £3 billion per year. Approximately £1.5 billion went to good causes in 2018/2019.
• As the internet grew rapidly, casinos and betting shops began to feel the pinch from online competitors often based elsewhere. They petitioned the government to legalize the industry, and the Gambling Act of 2005 laid the foundations for the UK gambling industry as we know it now.
• Until the new regulations came into full effect in 2007, betting shops had to conceal their interiors from the public eye, and casinos could not easily advertise on TV or in the print media. Some feel that the pendulum swung too far the other way, and in 2017/2018, there was a public outcry to scale back on gambling ads during football matches and other sporting events. Lots of top UK betting brands committed to cease advertising during commercial breaks.
• Since the liberalization, online gambling has exploded, and the gambling industry has grown year-on-year. The most recent stats from the UK Gambling Commission reveal that remote gambling generated £5.6 billion in Gross Gaming Yield. This was a 2.7% increase from the previous year.

The Future of UK Gambling

Given the tax revenue that gambling generates for the government, it’s highly unlikely that any UK government will attempt to ban gambling again. However, depending on who is in power, it’s definitely possible that stricter regulations will be implemented on advertising and things like player protections. Those may prove to be a good thing, provided they don’t stifle economic growth.

What will we see in the future? Ultimately, nobody knows, but an educated guess would be technological changes such as the rise of VR casino games, a reduced number of betting shops as online gambling continues to grow, and a slow and steady continued rise in the takeover by online gambling firms.

In short, nothing too dramatic!

Technological innovation will continue, but most things are likely to stay the same, at least in the next few decades.

Summary

As you can see, gambling in the UK is pertinent to its history. In the case of the lotteries used to fund the Virginia Company, it arguably has changed the course of the nation’s history. Whatever you think of gambling, it’s deeply embedded in UK culture and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

Why not check out one of the top UK gambling sites and have a flutter today?

Gambling During The Victorian Era Movie