Whether they're called "gaming" by the industry's supporters or "gambling" by its opponents, games of chance have always exerted a powerful pull. Every human society has indulged in some form of gambling and, ironically, has also tried to prohibit or limit it. In this comprehensive, objective look at gamblingóits people, places, and events; its laws and policies; its games and equipmentóscholar William N. Thompson traces the roots of gambling from ancient history.

The lottery games played in ancient Rome eventually traveled with settlers to the New World, where the Jamestown colonists enjoyed them. Casinos, too, existed during the Roman Empire, were reestablished during the Renaissance, and centuries later, flourished aboard Mississippi riverboats. The pervasiveness of gambling suggests that it serves some basic function for human societies, Thompson argues. Yet it can become a pathology for certain individuals and attract loan sharks, prostitutes, drug dealers, and organized crime.