A gambler may participate in the game itself while betting on its outcome ( card games , craps ), or 🏵 he may be prevented from any active participation in an event in which he has a stake (professional athletics, lotteries). 🏵 Some games are dull or nearly meaningless without the accompanying betting activity and are rarely played unless wagering occurs (coin 🏵 tossing, poker, dice games, lotteries). In other games betting is not intrinsically part of the game, and the association is 🏵 merely conventional and not necessary to the performance of the game itself (horse racing, football pools). Commercial establishments such as 🏵 casinos and racetracks may organize gambling when a portion of the money wagered by patrons can be easily acquired by 🏵 participation as a favoured party in the game, by rental of space, or by withdrawing a portion of the betting 🏵 pool . Some activities of very large scale (horse racing, lotteries) usually require commercial and professional organizations to present and 🏵 maintain them efficiently.
The outcomes of gambling games may be determined by chance alone, as in the purely random activity of 🏵 a tossed pair of dice or of the ball on a roulette wheel, or by physical skill, training, or prowess 🏵 in athletic contests, or by a combination of strategy and chance. The rules by which gambling games are played sometimes 🏵 serve to confuse the relationship between the components of the game, which depend on skill and chance, so that some 🏵 players may be able to manipulate the game to serve their own interests. Thus, knowledge of the game is useful 🏵 for playing poker or betting on horse racing but is of very little use for purchasing lottery tickets or playing 🏵 slot machines .
gambling , the betting or staking of something of value, with consciousness of risk and hope of gain, 🏵 on the outcome of a game, a contest, or an uncertain event whose result may be determined by chance or 🏵 accident or have an unexpected result by reason of the bettor’s miscalculation.
Prevalence of principal forms
A rough estimate of the amount 🏵 of money legally wagered annually in the world is aboutR$10 trillion (illegal gambling may exceed even this figure). In terms 🏵 of total turnover, lotteries are the leading form of gambling worldwide. State-licensed or state-operated lotteries expanded rapidly in Europe and 🏵 the United States during the late 20th century and are widely distributed throughout most of the world. Organized football (soccer) 🏵 pools can be found in nearly all European countries, several South American countries, Australia, and a few African and Asian 🏵 countries. Most of these countries also offer either state-organized or state-licensed wagering on other sporting events.
Betting on horse racing is 🏵 a leading form of gambling in English-speaking countries and in France. It also exists in many other countries. Wherever horse 🏵 racing is popular, it has usually become a major business, with its own newspapers and other periodicals, extensive statistical services, 🏵 self-styled experts who sell advice on how to bet, and sophisticated communication networks that furnish information to betting centres, bookmakers 🏵 and their employees, and workers involved with the care and breeding of horses. The same is true, to a smaller 🏵 extent, of dog racing. The emergence of satellite broadcasting technology has led to the creation of so-called off-track betting facilities, 🏵 in which bettors watch live telecasts at locations away from the racetrack.
Casinos or gambling houses have existed at least since 🏵 the 17th century. In the 20th century they became commonplace and assumed almost a uniform character throughout the world. In 🏵 Europe and South America they are permitted at many or most holiday resorts but not always in cities. In the 🏵 United States casinos were for many years legal only in Nevada and New Jersey and, by special license, in Puerto 🏵 Rico, but most other states now allow casino gambling, and betting facilities operate clandestinely throughout the country, often through corruption 🏵 of political authorities. Roulette is one of the principal gambling games in casinos throughout France and Monaco and is popular 🏵 throughout the world. Craps is the principal dice game at most American casinos. Slot and video poker machines are a 🏵 mainstay of casinos in the United States and Europe and also are found in thousands of private clubs, restaurants, and 🏵 other establishments; they are also common in Australia. Among the card games played at casinos, baccarat, in its popular form 🏵 chemin de fer, has remained a principal gambling game in Great Britain and in the continental casinos most often patronized 🏵 by the English at Deauville, Biarritz, and the Riviera resorts. Faro, at one time the principal gambling game in the 🏵 United States, has become obsolete. Blackjack is the principal card game in American casinos. The French card game trente et 🏵 quarante (or rouge et noir) is played at Monte-Carlo and a few other continental casinos. Many other games may also 🏵 be found in some casinos—for example, sic bo, fan-tan, and pai-gow poker in Asia and local games such as boule, 🏵 banca francesa, and kalooki in Europe.
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At the start 🏵 of the 21st century, poker exploded in popularity, principally through the high visibility of poker tournaments broadcast on television and 🏵 the proliferation of Internet playing venues. Another growing form of Internet gambling is the so-called betting exchanges—Internet Web sites on 🏵 which players make wagers with one another, with the Web site taking a small cut of each wager in exchange 🏵 for organizing and handling the transaction.
In a wide sense of the word, stock markets may also be considered a form 🏵 of gambling, albeit one in which skill and knowledge on the part of the bettors play a considerable part. This 🏵 also goes for insurance; paying the premium on one’s life insurance is, in effect, a bet that one will die 🏵 within a specified time. If one wins (dies), the win is paid out to one’s relatives, and if one loses 🏵 (survives the specified time), the wager (premium) is kept by the insurance company, which acts as a bookmaker and sets 🏵 the odds (payout ratios) according to actuarial data. These two forms of gambling are considered beneficial to society, the former 🏵 acquiring venture capital and the latter spreading statistical risks.
