Did people bet on more randomish stuff 30-60 years ago?

I’m not really talking about games that were invented to be bet on, like Poker, which is very popular these days, or on sports where the gamblers aren’t participating.

That said, it seems like there was a lot more betting between individuals in the “olden days”. For example, in Amarillo Slim’s book, he talks about roaming from small town to small town wagering relatively large amounts on pool games. Then he goes on to describe being involved in or participating in some down right ridiculous wagers for real sums of money. I think one such story involved playing ping pong with skillets or something equally as silly. Also, some older movies talk about “country club hustlers” (Casino comes to mind) who are apparently people who hang around golf courses looking to bet on golf related feats. Caddyshack also featured some golf betting. The movie King Pin, although almost certainly tongue in cheek, focuses on betting on bowling. Older Playboys talk about winning “bar bets”, which always made me wonder who in the heck goes around betting strangers in bars over random feats of skill? Even though I said I’m not talking about games designed for gambling, I know a famous steak house in Oklahoma changed hands in a hotel craps game way back when. I just can’t imagine relatively well-to-do folks hanging out in a hotel room shooting craps for big bucks today.

I’ve been hanging out in bars for the better part of a decade, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Maybe a friendly wager for drinks or something, but Amarillo seemed to be talking about betting hundreds or thousands of dollars in any old backwoods tavern years ago.

So, are these old betting tales real, or exaggerations and products of Hollywood? If they were real, was it widespread? Does it still go on and I haven’t noticed? Was it a passing fad or has it been replaced with widespread casinos, poker games, and the internet as a means for people to get their gamble on?

What you refer to is a prop bet. Here’s a recent NYTimes article about big money prop bets.

A couple of my friends and I make prop bets all the time about all kinds of things. It’s about enjoying the process of estimating the expected value (EV) and seeing if you can make (in your view) a positive EV bet.

OK, after reading the linked article, I guess I might be talking about two different things. So big time gamblers (like Amarillo Slim) have always been willing to bet on darn near anything. But let me rephrase the question to focus on betting on stuff people today seem to do for fun. In the olden days, did more people bet big money on straight games of pool, golf, bowling and the like? Do regular players do this today? I know lots of people who play golf and also bet on football, but none who bet big on their own golf game.

I suspect they did just because entertainment used to be more of a social thing. In the past you went out to a club or pub, went to the pool hall or down to the baseball field or something. These days you turn on your TV or computer and veg.

And even if one did go out socialising, these days it is more likely to be a mixed sex affair. Betting probably mostly happens when it’s just guys around.

All WAG though.

As a fictitious example, I submit to you Nathan Detroit betting Sky Masterson over which drop of water would first hit the bottom of a window in Guys & Dolls.