By Samantha Williams
It is so interesting to note that the roots of the game of craps – namely the dice, is not necessarily the root of all evil as some anti-gambling lobbyist might have you believe; the dice actually date way back in time to pre-history. While online craps and gambling in general may be new, taking a wager on the dice or bones as they are called is certainly not new. The idea of calling craps dice “bones” is also not new and they have been called this for millennia, chiefly because the first dice were made of bone. Perhaps even the bones of an enemy!
People love to take a wager on the outcome of a completely random act. It really doesn’t get more random, or more exciting than the roll of two dice, each marked with 6 numbers. Taking a wager on dice, or anything else for that matter is not limited to any one culture, it is a universal aspect of culture and no-one knows who placed the first bet. Perhaps cave men may have bet their buddies that their wife was faster than another’s when skinning a mammoth. The prize may have been the wife and the mammoth of the loser; who knows?
To think that Herotodus recorded dice as far back as the 5th century BC is quite mind boggling, but craps may date back further than that. He is known as the Greek Father of History. Archaeologists have found artefacts of a similar nature dating even further back in many cultures. The Egyptians even placed dice in tombs believing that dice games were played in the underworld and the spirits of the dead loved the odd game of craps or something similar.
All classical civilizations gamble on the outcome of random events and we still do this today, so we can quite safely assume that there is a genetic pre-disposition to gamble in all human nature. The fact that we still play craps and a myriad other gambling games online is therefore human nature!
Governments have tried to ban these games time and again as they really don’t like to see money or mammoths changing hands without getting a stake or steak for themselves. So excuses that gambling games are another of mans cause of downfall is really a load of craps, excuse the pun! It is all about money, and this is why sensible Governments take a regulatory stance, so that gambling is legal and they get their pound of flesh too.
Play craps online at any one of the many online casinos and while you play you will be safe in the knowledge that this game is genetically part of who we all are on a cultural level. Gambling commissions in Government bodies often fall under Arts and Culture, or Sports and Recreation ministries and rarely under Health and Safety, so learn to play craps, it is human nature.
