The history of women playing games of chance

Contrary to popular belief, women have been gambling in one form or another for at least several centuries. Women were not allowed to participate in gambling and games of chance when they originated in Roman times and it is thought that women first started to participate in gambling with the invention of cards in the late 1500s. French and English women were active and enthusiastic participants in gambling during the 17th century and women from every walk of life and social status could be found to be playing games of chance at any time of day or night. In America, Indian squaws also played games of chance but only when their husbands weren't watching. During the 1800's, roulette became very popular in Europe and women also partook of the pleasure in trying to win easy money. Countess Kisseleff was such a keen roulette player who could play it for hours on end and is said to have lost quite a fortune on several occasions that the street leading to the casino in Homburg, Germany is even named after her. In Las Vegas' early days in the 1950’s and 1960’s women were used as decoy players made available to the substantial male players. Instant win gaming machines were developed to keep the wives and girlfriends of male gamblers occupied while the men played the other games.

Women and gambling in modern times

As time goes on, women are becoming increasingly involved in gambling and no longer have their involvement from family and friends. Today, many prominent women are involved in gambling such as poker at a professional level and women have finally begun to break into the largely male dominated tournament poker and are even beating them at their own game in order to win prizes. Women's unique intuition has proved them to be naturals at playing games of chance. Women have also broken into other games of chance such as instant win lotteries and bingo and the numbers of women gambling is catching up with the number of men. An increasing amount of online gambling websites, magazines and clubs are catering specifically to women's needs in order to ensure that they can play instant win games while feeling completely safe and secure. Thousands of employment opportunities ranging from service to management are available for women who wish to work in the field of instant win games. Next:Women games of chance champions and their big win prizes