Club GTI Club GTI
When you think of gambling for money, it is usually associated with the present. That is, when you visit luxury casinos in Las Vegas or when you log into greenkasino.net and play at one of almost 100 Swedish online casinos in Sweden.
But the fact is that games have been an integral part of Swedish culture for centuries, and not only did our ancestors play in the old days, but also go back to the Viking Age.
In this article, we look at how games have evolved in Sweden over time and why they have become such an integral part of Swedish culture.
What is gambling for money?
Before we start unraveling the history of Swedish gambling, it's time to define what gambling really means.
According to the Swedish Gambling Authority, nearly all adults in Sweden have gambled at some point in their lives, with six out of ten gambling in the last year. This may be a surprising number to many people, but the fact is that when it comes to "gambling", "gambling", the concept is relatively large.
That is, it is about what game you bet money on. We can talk about bets, for example, on the outcome of a football match. But this term also covers all other games of chance, for example, when you play for money for:
- Card game
- Domino tiles
- Dice
- horse racing
- Slot machines
- Lottery
The game started in the days of the Vikings in Sweden
The Viking Age in Sweden was a period of Scandinavian history that lasted from the late 8th century until around the 1050s. The Viking Age is most often associated with the expansion of Scandinavia and the British Isles. But the Vikings were also very fond of games.
In fact, gambling was so popular that the Vikings created dice by cutting animal bones into different shapes. For example, Fotevikensmuseum found that Hnefatafl was a chess-like board game that was often played during the Viking Age and is often mentioned in the Icelandic sagas. Read this website about the development of casinos in Sweden
Swedes played less during the great power period
The Great Power Age was the era in which the Swedish nation established itself as a great power and had great influence in Europe. This was a period when the country was strongly religious, and the new ecclesiastical law took on great importance as it required the population to read the Bible. Given the religious nature of the country, there was very little gambling that could be done in public. However, most of the games were played in dark, secret clubs.
Gambling has grown exponentially during the 20th century
The card game was introduced as early as the 18th century in Sweden, including through the Vira card game (bidding picture). But it wasn't until the early 20th century that playing cards underwent a radical change as different types of playing cards were introduced to Europe through different trade routes.
At present, card games have become a popular pastime in Swedes, and the view of gambling for money has been liberalized. For example, horse racing and bingo betting were legalized in the 20th century.
Gambling for money in the present: 21st century and beyond
In the late 1900s and early 2000s, traditional casinos were one of the main places people came to play for money. But in Sweden it was forbidden to have physical casinos. This meant that the Swedes had to travel abroad, to places like Las Vegas in the US or Monte Carlo in Monaco, where gambling was not banned.
But in the early 2000s, the government commissioned Casino Cosmopol to create four international casinos, and today there are three land-based casinos called Casino Cosmopol, a subsidiary of AB Svenska Spel.
Around the same time, online casinos began to enter the Swedish gaming market as our computers and internet connection got better and better. In 2019, this form of gambling was legalized by the introduction of a new "gambling law" in Sweden. Thus, today it is perfectly legal to play for money in active companies that have a Swedish gambling license, regardless of whether it is applied physically or online.
Full write up here: Link to Full Thread
