Sport betting has been in existence for quite a long time, and with each year that goes by, it only gains more awareness and acceptance among the youths and oldies around the world. Hence it’s imperative for us to know about its inception, and who were in charge of the betting process when it began.
Who Is A Bookmaker?
A Bookmaker is a person or organization that accepts bets, pays off bets on an agreed upon odd; and that presides over the betting process.
History Of Bookmaking
From the beginning of man history as recorded, having a bet was filled with a lot of restriction and uncertainty. Before the Victorian Era, bets were done under a gentleman’s agreement, between men, without any odds. Part of the difficulty was that there existed no security for your stakes or winnings. At the end of each bet, a chance existed for you to lose both your stake and your winnings.
In the 1800’s during the inception of Bookmaking, early Bookmakers were mostly illegal, and those which weren’t tightly regulated and could only carryout its activities at licensed tracks and courses. It was during 1960’s that a big change in Bookmaking was effected: gambling was legalize which brought the creation of betting shop, and later on, online gambling with the invention of internet. Today, you can enjoy betting on the go by using the Bet365 mobile app review by betenemy.
The First Bookmaker
We should all know that since the inception of man, before chronicles of man existence were documented, it is very possible for betting to have been in effect, just a little more crude.
Before the inception of Bookmakers, the kinds of wagers that were carried out were limited: no odds; it was most likely a two possibly outcome: win or not win: Horse X wins, against Horse X fails; Englands win, or Spain wins.
But this is made more interesting, broader, challenging, and risky by the invention of Bookmakers. Bookmakers lay odds, by so doing, creating a book that houses multiple results, which if balanced ensures a profit. What this means in reality is: rather than two people pitting their wits against each other over one possible outcome, a bookmaker will take multiple bets for several outcomes from different sources. If they have their prices right then this should ensure a profit.
Harry Ogden
During the 1700’s when horse racing was new invented in Britain, according to the records of history, a Lancestrian known as Harry Ogden was the person to initiate Bookmaking. Though due to the limitation of information that existed during those days, one can’t firmly state that he was the only one.
He got himself a pitch at the then Newmarket, from which he and his fellow bettors could witness the sport without being hassled by the owners. Now rather than pricing all horse the same, Harry having noted that as some horses were better than others, so will their success rates, created different prices upon the horses according to their likeliness of winning the game. This created an opportunity for the punters to choose which possibility they wanted to go for. If they wanted to ensure their money will return, they had to bet for the ones which were most like to win, but with low returns; and if they felt like taking the risk of losing their money for bigger returns, they had to bet for the ones which were less likely to win.
Harry Ogden went further to build for himself a margin in his book that ensured he gained something from it all. This he did by never reflecting the real chances of the result. If a horse actual likelihood to win a race was 12/1 he probably would place its odd around 10/1.
Early Bookmaking
During the Victorian Era, with Bookmaking now in existence there was need for regulation and securities. Often times brawls were settled in courts over unfaithfulness of the Bookmaker or the punters who decided to have their money back, though they lost.
The government now began to observe the punting activities, and found them stupid enough not to deserve legal protection: firstly, because they were stupid enough to bet on odds; and secondly, because the activity was not yet taxed.
All this began to change during the 19th century: more regulation from the government began to play in Bookmaking, starting from: the 19th century House of Lords select committee, which set out a series of recommendations that resulted in the first piece of legislation brought in by parliament in England to help control gambling was the 1845 Gaming Act.
Although this act was in favour of the Bookmaker, it brought the creation of other laws that has in their capacity reshaped and regulated gambling, and Bookmaking as we know it.