Have you ever given any thought about when or how gambling originated? When gambling is mentioned, usually our minds go to casinos, roulette, lottery, dice etc. The fact is that some forms of gambling have existed in virtually the same form for thousands of years.

Gambling has been of interest to the Greeks since ancient times and from references in Homer and other ancient texts we can find out that gambling games were widely favoured in ancient Greece.

Dice games, head and tails, and other games based on ‘luck’ have always been played by different groups. Even poker goes back to the Minoan civilization, more than 3,500 years ago. Nowadays, we consider that throwing a double six in a dice game is lucky and this too has its ancient origins.

Thousands of years ago, rolling two sixes was called the ‘throw of Aphrodite’ and would indicate victory in a game. Special places even existed where people passionate about gambling would go to play.

However, like the casinos of today, those places carried a bad reputation and it was considered shameful for someone to go there. People would lose fortunes in gambling, exactly in the same way that we do today. However in ancient Greece, gamblers had the support of a couple of gods – Hermes and Pan. Even the Gods were said to have played a game or two – in Greek mythology, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon played ‘throw the dice’ in order to split the Universe between them.

Now, that we know how gambling originated, let us come to the crux of the matter —modern day sports betting in regards to students and young people . “My ticket don cut” has fast become part of the local parlance between students.

Everywhere you turn, you’d see a betting slip. Even though some do it for fun, just like almost every other thing, young people are starting to overdo it. We hear stories about people using their school fees, house rents etc to stake bets and make wagers. If you must indulge in bets and gambling, here are a few things you shouldn’t forget:

• Only use spare money to bet.
  Never gamble with money you can’t afford to part with.
• Make sure you don’t make it a habit.
• Always have someone you’re accountable to.
• Remember that you will not always win.
• Never forget that the only sure thing is death.

Namaste.