Betting is everywhere! While someone decides to make people bet online, on the other side of the world a guy in a suit and tie is betting billions on a graph that looks like a crazy electrocardiogram. But let’s go in order, because here we can lose our minds!
The origins: a dive into the past that will leave you speechless
Do you know when all this chaos began? No, I’m not talking about Las Vegas! Let’s go back, way back, to ancient Rome. Imagine the scene: chariots whizzing by, screaming crowds and… endless bets! And to think that those guys in togas didn’t even have the app on their phones.
But the real madness began in 1687. In London, a certain Edward Lloyd (no, not the one in the movies) opened a coffee shop. That place became a den for merchants and shipowners who, between one coffee and another, started betting on ships. “Hey, do you want to bet that that tub will sink before it gets to India?” And modern insurance was born.
Wall Street and poker: an explosive mix!
New York, late 1800s. Wall Street is taking its first steps and guess who the protagonists are? Poker players! No, I’m not kidding.
Take James R. Keene, nicknamed “the Napoleon of the stock market”. This guy was an ace with both cards and stocks. His skill? Reading his opponents like open books. Result? A fortune of 50 million dollars.
And what about Jesse Livermore? He claimed that “speculation is the most fascinating of gambles.” Known as “Boy Plunger,” he was a wizard at predicting market movements. If he had a crystal ball, he wouldn’t have been so accurate!
The Calcutta Stock Exchange: When Rain is Worth Gold
Calcutta, 1830. One of the first stock exchanges in Asia is born. But what were they betting on? Rain! Local traders, worried about the crops, began exchanging contracts based on weather forecasts. Basically, a mix between a weather app and a casino.
The Modern Era: When Finance Becomes a Pinball Machine Gone Wild
In 1973, two guys with their heads full of numbers, Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, come up with a mathematical model that revolutionizes everything. The Black-Scholes, they call it. It sounds like the name of a cocktail, but it’s actually the magic formula for pricing options.
And guess where the inspiration comes from? From a French mathematician, Louis Bachelier, who at the beginning of the 20th century studied… betting! This genius had understood that stock prices moved like drunken particles in a fluid. Who would have ever thought that drunkenness could inspire modern finance?
The subprime crisis: the casino that shook the world
2008 arrives and everything goes to pieces. The famous “credit default swaps”, stuff that makes poker look like child’s play, send the world economy into a tailspin. Warren Buffett, the sage of Omaha, calls them “financial weapons of mass destruction”. And to think that it all started with simple bets on mortgages!
Sports betting: an industry that scores goals over and over again
Sports betting has become a colossus. In 2020, we are talking about 66 billion dollars. It could make the GDP of some countries pale in comparison!
And what about Italian football in the 80s and 90s? The Totonero scandal shook the stadiums. Who would have thought that behind a simple penalty kick there could be a plot worthy of a spy movie?
