While we sit gambling, on whatever device you use and betting on the markets you wish, we often forget what makes it possible for us to perform that task. That is of course technology, which has come a long way in terms of gambling over the past decade, let alone what happened before that.
The best new gambling sites are a long way detached from how betting off-course began back during the Victorian age. Back in 1852, hundreds of back street betting shops opened across London and shortly after the first technological advancement allowed those shops to spread across the country thanks to railways and the electric telegraph.
Those first moves were very basic of course, but you now only have to look at things like in-play betting, FOBTs in betting shops and smartphones allowing you to bet on the go to see how much betting relies on new technology. Those new methods mentioned, mobile betting, in-play betting and the use of FOBTs in betting shops are among some of the most common ways to bet right now, so we have a lot to be thankful for as punters.
Source: Statista
However, it is not all positive news as many have pointed to the advanced technology having an adverse effect on the betting industry and vulnerable people inside it. We have already seen the new laws surrounding FOBTs and the amount of money people can play on them, and there are now calls to look into mobile betting and the ease in which people can place a bet. The best new betting sites all have state of the art mobile apps that punters can download and place bets on within a matter of seconds, a far cry from the days of walking to your local betting shop to place a wager.
The advancements and changes that we are seeing now, mirror the huge changes that were made back in Victorian times with horse racing. For long periods we saw long distance, two runner horse races where one wealthy man would put his horse up against another wealthy man. Those two were interested in the outcome, but the general public were not too bothered.
The invention of sweepstakes races changed all of that and kick-started a whole new way to bet. This gave more runners, and a wide variety of abilities, meaning there was a need for odds to be given for each runner. That brought about horse racing betting as we know it today, with shorter races, more runners and each one having their own odds which reflect their chances of winning the race.
Technology then came along which allowed results from those races to be passed around the country, and that aided the launch of hundreds of betting shops where punters could go and place a wager without actually being at the event themselves. From then, betting as we know today began to grow, and with each small technological advancement in the world, we have seen betting take another step forward, until we find ourselves at the position we are in today, where everything is at our fingertips and almost anything is possible.