A new archeological finding suggests that Native Americans were gambling on games of chance as far back as the Ice Age, 12,000 years ago. This would make them the first humans to engage in such activity.
The findings were published in the journal American Antiquity. Robert Madden, an archaeologist at Colorado State University, sifted through existing records of Native American artifacts to look for the oldest dice in the country. He searched for objects that researchers thought were related to gaming or dice.
“The results suggest that dice, games of chance, and gambling have been a persistent feature of Native American culture for the last 12,000 years, with the earliest dice appearing in Late Pleistocene Folsom deposits in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico,” wrote Madden.
Were Americans First Humans To Gamble?
Colorado continues to debate what constitutes a game of skill and a game of chance, but the evidence suggests that North Americans were gambling well before other humans.
Previous research has found evidence of objects such as dice and lottery-like games from around 5000 to 6000 years ago. It appears to be a common human activity, with similar discoveries in ancient Egypt, China, ancient Greece, and Rome.
In Madden’s search for the earliest dice, he had several criteria. Firstly, Native American ‘dice’ were two-sided. Additionally, the objects had to have at least one side marked and fit in a human’s hand. The objects also couldn’t have any holes, which could indicate they were used for jewelry.
Madden found 565 objects that met the criteria and determined that at least 94 were likely used for gaming. The items were from 57 archaeological sites across 12 states, all in the Great Plains and western United States.
Most were from 2,000 to 450 years ago, but at least 31 were from 8,000 to 2,000 years ago, and at least 14 dated as far back as 12,000 years ago.
Native Americans and Gambling
Madden added that “the findings presented here place prehistoric Native American groups at the forefront of the invention of dice, games of chance, and gambling.”
Archaeologists had previously identified more recent two-sided objects with a ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ side, like modern-day coins used in gambling games.
Early European settlers observed Native Americans engaging in the activities upon arriving on the continent. The games “were often raucous affairs with huge groups of people around,” Madden says.
More recently, tribes reignited gaming in the US around 50 years ago. The Seminole Tribe of Florida opened the first high-stakes bingo hall in 1979. The tribe continues to hold exclusive rights to gambling in the state, with others running gaming centers prosecuted by law enforcement.
A Supreme Court victory for the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians in California in 1987 led to the enactment of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) the following year.
California’s tribes continue to assert their authority to exclusively offer gambling in the state. Tribes are leading lobbying efforts against prediction markets, alleging they infringe on their gaming compacts.
While opponents of tribal exclusivity argue that the free market would create more jobs, tax revenue, and fuel innovation, the recent discovery shows that the link between Native Americans and gambling may be far deeper than previously thought.
