Apart from those games that gave the citizen of Rome the opportunity to bet, the first bets were placed on tests of skill like cock fighting, Grecian wrestling and early horse racing. The first horse races were endurance races held in the Middle Eastern deserts. European royalty took note of these competitions and started acquiring some of their own desert-bred racing Arabians. Later, the races were shortened to keep the interest of European crowds.

 

For centuries, most bets were wagers made between friends and acquaintances aiming to increase once wage but also for fun and opportunity to risk ones destiny on chances. Some texts from the middle Ages have mention organized betting, but historians have little evidence of when bookmakers first came about. It is also certain that because of the importance of the catholic religion during the dark ages of medieval times, betting was often illegal or frown upon, so it is hard to imagine that bookmakers could have existed.

 

However betting became more than wager between friends and acquaintances when the first gambling halls and casinos started to appear in Europe in the late 16th Century, and that taxed bets were offered at the tracks that were built in both Europe and America in the years that followed. But off-track betting wasn't legalized in Europe until 1961, making it hard to trace earlier betting shops.

 

Today with the Internet, betting as become truly global and opportunities have aroused to bet with people from all around the world. Every one of age, can now,  in most countries have access to betting and websites like Friendbet aim at making it the fun and thrilling experience betters of all ages have strive for.