LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Gambling: Lotteries
built 605 days ago
Gambling appealed most to the poor and immigrants. Working-class men found an independence in gambling, in sharp contrast to their jobs, and risk taking and competition seemed to validate their masculinity. Bettors wagered on card games, checkers, backgammon, horse races, and prize fights. They played policy, a lottery-like game, and by the 1850s rowdy crowds gathered and gambled at rat and cock fights.
Source:
Lotteries were not the only form of gambling during this era. Wagering on horse racing was a popular form of gambling. Not surprisingly, it was not quite as organized nor as elaborate as modern horse racing. Rather, the gambling was limited to a few friendly bets between owners of horses and their partisans. The first racetrack in North America was built on Long Island in 1665.
Source:
Internet gambling has grown rapidly over the last four years. In 1994, there were no gambling sites on the Internet; by 1998, that number had increased to about 120. [10] Almost any type of betting or wagering which can be done by physically going to a gambling establishment can now be done on-line. This includes sports betting, [11] betting on horses, [12] casinos, [13] bingo, [14] blackjack, [15] and lotteries. [16] In 1997, it was estimated that $1 billion was spent on Internet gambling worldwide, [17] with nearly 60 percent of those bets and wagers being placed by United States citizens. [18] The total amount of on-line gambling has been projected to increase to $10 billion by 2000.
Source:
Criticism continued throughout the Enlightenment, when the emphasis shifted to the disorderly effects of gambling within rational society—again, aimed primarily at the poor. Across the continent, legislation during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries attempted to remove gambling from the mass of the population, primarily by fiscal means: imposing taxes on cards and dice, charging hefty entrance fees for horse races, and increasing the price of lottery tickets.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Lotteries