20/01/2022 | Categories: Blog | Published by: James
Betting is a form of entertainment that everyone enjoys due to the many various options you have to play, alongside the culture and different atmosphere and gambling environment that online casinos bring. The best casinos around the UK all offer different attractive features and attributes, to make your gambling experience unique and entertaining. However, despite the many times you play, there are some gambling facts that never get disclosed to general gamblers hitting the casino scene. This is where we come in. We thought you could keep these to yourself and use them to your advantage, the next time you hit the towns and casinos. Or, you can choose to keep these in mind for whenever you play online. Nevertheless, let’s get started on those gambling facts that you never knew about.
Henry VIII loved gambling
This is definitely one to take note of. Henry’s reputation was really tainted for his love choices and fickle idea of love of course. As soon as anyone mentions his name, they remember him for the 6 wives he has, and an obsession for flirting with the ladies. However, there was more to his life that is not often disclosed. Henry has always loved gambling too! There are historical sources that state how often he gambles and played card games within the court, or in his private circle. Of course, gambling on sports back in the day was on archery feats and hunting success-not so much the Premier League standards.
He made history for gambling much of the crown treasury, which proved consequential later on in his rule. A £3250 loss over two years equated to what is seen as millions today. St. Paul’s church bells were lost in one of the wagers made by the King of England, however he managed to gain them back, after he convinced his opponent that they had no value whatsoever.
Roulette is a game with the devil
The roulette wheel is known as a game that involves the devil, why? Because when you count all the numbers in the wheel, they equate to 666, which is of course Satan’s number. Many rumours surrounding the man who unveiled this game, François Blanc. Apparently to create this game, he in fact sold his soul to the devil, to allow this to happen and become such a famous game within the realm of French gambling. However, as the years went on, the rumour stuck and actually became a label that is widely used by everyone-even casinos. They call it the devils game. Definitely a great marketing scheme to utilise for Halloween though, right?
The Great Wall of China was made possible due to Keno
You heard that right! The funds to build the great wall were only made possible due to an exceptional win secured by General Cheung Leung, during all the years of war efforts. The time had stripped the funds completely, as much was used to support the armies and Qin dynasty. It also was not possible to raise taxes, as people were poor and in a period of great depression, due to the war and generally reduced farmers to yield the farms and fields.
A war definitely takes its toll and resources and essentially the land was pressured to the limit. If it was not for a few lucky hands by General Cheung, we would never have the great wall as it is today. Turns out that gambling can be used to prevail a great story after all-for historical purposes of course…. word out on the streets is that General Cheung sacrificed many workers to build his wall. Many died from the long strenuous hours and hard labour.
Getting a Royal Flush is not so easy
We live under this presumption, due to movies culture, that a Royal Flush is something quite easy to come across within your poker hand. However, the only possible flushes you can have from the entire game of poker is four choices-4 different cards across four different decks.
The odds of actually landing this huge arrangement is actually only 1 in 649,739. The odds of landing four in a kind are lesser than that of course, at 1 in 4164. A straight flush is just a little bit higher, at 1 in 72,192. But alas, due to the huge glamorisation of this, many people believe it can happen! You are much more likely to get four of a kind or a straight flush instead. But if you put it in comparison to winning the lottery, you will of course have a better chance of winning, as a lottery jackpot holds the odds of 1 in 45 million! Suppose you would have to put your money on the Royal Flush instead of the lottery then…
Gambling provides profit to the HM Customs and Revenue
Another gambling fact that you may not know of is, the UK really does profit from the gambling revenue that comes in and out of the country. From recent publications released by the HM Revenue and Customs, the betting industry presented 2.71 billion pounds of taxable income. This is something huge to comprehend of course, yet this number is set to grow, due every single year. Especially since gambling has taken a centre stage during the pandemic. Suppose, we can roughly imagine how much this will contribute to the country’s treasury overall, during the UK’s rebuild of the economy, in the coming years.
American Roulette used to have worse odds back in the day
American Roulette is known for its incredibly difficult odds that it presents to gamblers. This of course is due to the double zero that has been added, on top of the original roulette model. This addition gives the casino house a larger advantage of winning, yet back in the day, this advantage was far greater and larger, as there was also the use of an American Eagle that was used-on top of the double zero! Of course, we know how patriotic America can be, this did attract quite the few players in and they didn’t know how hard it made it for themselves to break even-never mind come out with a net win.
Las Vegas is not the casino capital of the world anymore
This one is definitely hard to believe, since Vegas has built itself up from this reputation. The place that has taken over now, is Macau in Hong Kong. This area has countless gambling sites where people can gamble so close to the illegal country of China. It is where the rich and famous often hop on a private jet to, to get that gambling fix and relieve the twitch in their toes. In addition to this, the revenue alone from this location and hotspot, has pulled in a total of £35 billion revenue, which is many times larger than what Vegas currently manages to reel in. However, if you are wanting to feel like a rich man without the money, Vegas is the place you should go. The spread between the rich and poor is not so identifiable or obvious as it is in Macau, so Vegas will always be the ideal situation for a night out on the town with the boys or girls. Period.
The first online casino was in the early 90’s
Online casinos took major hold and huge dominance in the noughties. Therefore, it is often miscalculated as to when they were actually unveiled to the gambling community. It was actually much earlier than previously presumed. During the 1990’s the Gaming Club Casino launched their virtual service, to where players were able to join and be a part of something far more intimate than a casino hall. Of course, by today’s standards, the software and corny music is nowhere near as seamless as it is today, nor was it mobile compatible! Nevertheless, it had slowly built up its following, as did the technological advancements that came along with it. British casinos have definitely come a long way, there is no doubt about it.
The first poker World Series was born because of a vote
It was exactly 50 years ago that WSOP had come to life. During the year 1970, there was a poker tournament that was happening and it was constructed via invitation of the most known and talented players. There attending was the renowned Johnny Moss, who was up against seven other players that evening. The concept of a cup to award the players was assigned prior to the poker engagement and that the very night the cup was awarded, the person would be declared the best in the world for their participation in the card game. By unanimous vote, it was Johnny that picked up the title and fuelled the series of poker that we know today as WSOP!
Gambling made FedEx conquer
For the last gambling facts series, we have the story of how Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx came to be. During the 70’s Fred was close to declaring bankruptcy. He decided to leave the company’s fate and future to a hand of blackjack within the casinos. He used the last $5000 that he had to his name, and manifested 6 times as much as that, to cover the bills and fees that were overdue for the company. If it was not for the game of blackjack that Fred so boldly went for, there would have been no FedEx within today’s highly emerging business wonders. Just this last year, the company climbed higher than ever before, with a revenue of £38.5 billion and still to this day Fred credits his CEO and president position, to the lucky hand of blackjack.