Affiliation:
1. De Montfort University, International Centre for Sports History and Culture, The Gateway , Leicester , LE1 9BH , United Kingdom
2. Independent scholar, formerly University of Westminster , London England
Abstract
Summary
The intention here is to trace the development of the sport-gambling nexus in Britain from the early-nineteenth to the late-twentieth century. An overview of this kind facilitates an understanding of a relationship that has often been characterized as symbiotic. Over the long run, as Britain has transitioned from a pre-industrial to an industrial and then to a post-industrial society, the relationship between sport and gambling has remained intact. In particular, it survived a long period between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries when the ideological hegemony of amateurism in British sport predisposed governing bodies to view gambling with suspicion and even, at times, hostility. The article draws extensively on recent published research into the history of sport in Britain and outlines key developments in the relationship between particular sports and gambling, notably cricket, football, horseracing, greyhound racing and pedestrianism. Recent changes related to the advent of online gambling are identified and briefly discussed, with particular reference to cricket.
Subject
Philosophy,Social Sciences (miscellaneous),History
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