As with many things that form part of madern day life fixed odds betting has origins rooted in acient Rome. Betting on gladiatorial matches and chariot races entertained parts of Roman society. Bookmakers are people who realised that ‘the people’ enjoyed gambling on the event of an uncertain outcome with the primiary intent of increasing ones wealth. Obviously, in the most early days of fixed odds betting poeple would wager belongings such as livestock, slaves, etc.
Fixed odds betting was born with the emergence of fixed odds bookmakers. Individual or groups that would off fixed odds on the outcomes of various events. Fixed odds would have been presented as a list or a book, thus, the practice was coined bookmaking.
As a form of entertainment fixed odds bookmaking grew in popularity. This is especially true with fixed odds sports betting. There where winners and loosers. Unfortunataly some took this past time too far, as with many popular forms of past time, such as drinking (alcohol), this can lead to problems.