The Hot 19th Century Sport That Launched Modern Athletic Betting? Competitive Walking

Sports betting started in the 1800s with competitive walking. Ancient cultures used to use betting and gambling. The Rig Veda, an ancient Indian religious text, includes the hymn “Gamester’s Lament” and the plot of the Mahabharata centers around a gambling tournament. The Aztecs allegedly bet on Ullamaliztli, a ball game, and betting on surfing contests was a favorite pastime of indigenous Hawaiians.

Competitive walking, known as pedestrianism, reached the height of its popularity in America and the UK during the 1870s and 1980s. It was popularized by aristocrats who had footmen who carried papers and messages. The first pedestrian race to fully capture the public’s imagination happened in 1809. Captain Robert Barclay bet “Bold” James Wedderson-Webster 1,000 guineas that he could walk 1.000 miles in 1 hour.

Jonathan Waring walked one hundred and thirty-six miles in thirty four hours for a wager of one thousand guineas in September this year.

In the 19th century, competitive walking was a popular spectator sport. There was plenty of scandal in the sport, like when a champion pedestrian was caught chewing coca leaves in 1876. Match-fixing was also an issue in footrace, as in 1906 when Billy McDonald was banned from Australian pedestrian races for three months.

There were brass bands playing songs, vendors selling pickled eggs and roasted chestnuts, and celebrities like James Blaine and Chester Arthur attended the matches.