Publication date:
14 July 2016Length of book:
306 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442265530
Horse racing in America dates back to the colonial era when street races were a common occurrence. The commercialization of horse racing produced a sport that would briefly surpass all others in popularity, with annual races such as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes growing to rank among America’s most celebrated sporting events. From the very onset, horse racing and gambling were intertwined. As the popularity of racing and betting grew, so, too, did the controversies and corruption. Yet, despite the best efforts of social reformers, bookmakers stubbornly plied their trade, adapting and evolving as horse racing gave way to team sports as the backbone of their business.
In Sports Betting and Bookmaking: An American History, Arne K. Lang provides a sweeping overview of legal and illegal sports and race betting in the United States, from the first thoroughbred meet at Saratoga in 1863 through the modern day. The cultural war between bookmakers and their adversaries is a recurring theme, as bookmakers were often forced into the shadows during times of social reform, only to bloom anew when the time was ripe. While much of bookmaking’s history takes place in New York, other locales such as Chicago, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City—not to mention Cyberspace—are also discussed in this volume.
A comprehensive exploration of the evolution of bookmaking—including the legal developments and technological advancements that have taken place over the years—Sports Betting and Bookmaking is a fascinating read. This informative and engaging book will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about America’s long history with gambling on horse racing and team sports.
In Sports Betting and Bookmaking: An American History, Arne K. Lang provides a sweeping overview of legal and illegal sports and race betting in the United States, from the first thoroughbred meet at Saratoga in 1863 through the modern day. The cultural war between bookmakers and their adversaries is a recurring theme, as bookmakers were often forced into the shadows during times of social reform, only to bloom anew when the time was ripe. While much of bookmaking’s history takes place in New York, other locales such as Chicago, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City—not to mention Cyberspace—are also discussed in this volume.
A comprehensive exploration of the evolution of bookmaking—including the legal developments and technological advancements that have taken place over the years—Sports Betting and Bookmaking is a fascinating read. This informative and engaging book will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about America’s long history with gambling on horse racing and team sports.
Sportswriter Lang’s new book is a fascinating look at the history of legal and illegal horse-race and sports betting in the U.S. It combines his previously demonstrated strengths as a gambling expert and a cultural historian. The strength of Lang’s work comes from his deciding not to focus on the 'rogues and scandals' that have been common elements of early writings about horse racing; instead he looks at the history of playing the ponies as a 'robust industry' well fitted to sociology and entrepreneurial studies. His book is an unusual view of the history of America, and includes the racetrack-building boom in the years following the Civil War 'accompanied by a parallel boom in offtrack betting'; the 1905 opening of Belmont Park in New York, 'one of the last great spectacles of the Gilded Age'; the surge in racing papers published during the expansion of horse racing in the Great Depression; and the technological advance of simulcasting satellite video feeds of races to nonracetrack locations, which revolutionized off-track betting. This excellent look at 'America’s love/hate affair with sports gambling' delivers fascinating insights.