BobRingReflections

Today’s constant solicitation (and saturation TV marketing) of sports betting seems so at odds with my experience over my lifetime.  What happened to so dramatically change the betting environment?   I decided to try to find out - first by researching and understanding the long-time evolution of sports betting, and second, by documenting what’s happened recently to turn this world upside down.  So, this blog will cover the history of sports betting in the United States.     After a short introduction, I’ll briefly cover (for perspective and background) the evolution of sports betting in the Western World from ancient times.  Next, I’ll focus on the United States and talk about sports betting developments in three time periods, the 18 th and 19 th centuries, the 20 th century, and the 21 st century.  Finally, I’ll speculate on the future of sports betting. My principal sources include “History of Sports Betting in the USA,” legalsports betti...

The musical, Cabaret, includes the song, “Money makes the world go round,” illustrating the importance of money in our lives.  Everybody has some money.  Most of us wish we had more.  But what do we know about money, how it came to be, and the different forms it comes in?  I realized that I didn’t know much about this subject.  So, this blog post is about the history of money.   After a short introduction, I’ll talk about bartering, the early evolution of currency, banks, the value of money, modern financial transactions, and finish with some conclusions. My principal sources include “The History of Money,” mint.intuit.com; “The History of Money - From Bartering to Bitcoin,” “How Currency Works,” and “The Evolution of Banking Over Time,” investopedia.com; “History of Money,” Wikipedia; “History of Money,” historyworld.net; “Standards of Value,” britannica.com; “The History of Money,” thoughtco.com; “A Brief History of Money,” historyofyesterday.com; “...