ABSTRACT
The Nineteenth Century: Playing with Numbers In the nineteenth century, various changes occurred which dramatically changed the face of gambling. e commercialisation of games of chance during the Industrial Revolution converged with the commercialisation of economic life and with the denouement of probability theory-the science that had ‘tamed’ chance. As the calculation of odds became more fully understood, the nature of the games played changed so that they became more amenable to commercial organisation, more homogeneous and, ultimately, more ‘sellable’. It is in this period that the recognisably modern forms of the casino, the public racetrack and the mechanised slot-machine rst appeared. In place of the huge sums wagered by the individuals of the seventeenth-century aristocracy came more democratic games for many players organised around modest stakes which allowed for prolonged rather than excessive play. ese conventions are still visible in the gambling behaviour of today.…
In the industrial discipline of the nineteenth century, the separation of the spheres of leisure and work, which had been ongoing for the previous
two hundred years, was nally consolidated. Such a development was particularly evident in the gambling arena which at this time was disengaged from its surrounding social life and organised into distinct, highly commercial spheres. e casino was perhaps most representative of the trend; it emerged in the second half of the century as a collection of public rooms devoted exclusively to gambling, away from its earlier formulation as a dancing saloon and summer-house (McMillen 1996).
