Gambling during the colonial period

The history of gambling in Guyana goes back to the colonial era - from the Dutch settlements of the XVII-XVIII centuries to the long British period of the XIX - the first half of the XX century. At the intersection of the port economy, the plantation system and multinational society, excitement acted as leisure, and an informal financial mechanism, and the subject of constant moral debate.

1) Chronological frame and context

Dutch heritage: The early trading posts and canal network were accustomed to the "port" culture of leisure - taverns, gambling tables, bones and cards as part of weekends of sailors and artisans.

British period: with the growth of Georgetown (ex. Stabrock) and plantations of Demerara/Essequibo stratification intensified: gentry and officers - clubs and races; workers, sailors and freemen - taverns, markets and street games.

2) Spaces of excitement: from "rum shops" to clubs

Taverns and "rum shops": card games (whipp, whist, later rami), dice, simple sweepstakes for cockfights and street competitions.

Fairs and holidays: seasonal "fests" with lotteries, prize draws, ring/dart throws and power/speed betting.

Clubs and racecourses: for landowners and officials - private gambling rooms, gentlemen's clubs, betting on races as a "respectable" type of excitement and secular code of communication.

3) Games and practices

Card and bone: whist, pharaoh/farao bank, later poker; dice as a "universal" format in ports.

Animal betting and sports: cockfighting (in some communities), horse racing, regattas and local competitions.

Lotteries and draws: used both for entertainment and to raise funds for public needs (repair of roads, embankments, temples), which gave the excitement "legitimacy" in the eyes of a part of the elite.

4) Social strata and cultural mosaic

Planters and officers: excitement - part of club life, social events and trips to the racetrack; rates accompanied business deals and informal negotiations.

Free citizens, sailors, artisans: cheap bets, quick games "for change," collective "folds" for lottery tickets.

The legacy of slavery and wage labor: among enslaved Africans and later among wage workers (including immigrants from India) there were forms of small games and mutual monetary "pools," where the element of excitement was mixed with the practices of mutual assistance and holidays.

The multilingualism and multi-confessional nature of the region created a syncretic culture of leisure, where European card games coexisted with local competitions and music and dance evenings.

5) Law, morality and control

Moralising campaigns: Church sermons and Victorian ethics condemned "indolence, drunkenness and play," particularly on Sundays and during religious holidays.

Regulation "from the bottom and from the top": city authorities and the colonial administration introduced licenses for taverns, fines for "game houses," restrictions on night work, periodic raids against underground "banks."

The double standard of the era: "high" excitement (horse racing, club draws) is tolerable and even prestigious; "grassroots" - criminalized as a source of "disorder." This reinforced class boundaries and formed an image of "decent" and "indecent" excitement.

6) Everyday economics

Port cash cycle: Payments to sailors and workers spurred bursts of petty excitement on paydays, fueling turnover in taverns, taverns and street vending.

Lotteries for public needs: in some places they were used as a tool for local financing - the prototype of a public-private partnership, where the game was disguised as charity.

Racecourses and crafts: horse racing launched chains - from horse breeding and carriages to sewing workshops and musicians at social races.

7) Conflict and repression

Periodic bans: outbreaks of crime or social tension led to tightening - the closure of gambling houses, increased duties, curfew practices for taverns.

Colonial press: published pamphlets about the "dangers of gambling," linking it with debt, violence in bars and the fall of "public morality," which legitimized new restrictions.

8) Long-term legacy

Norms of "respectability": Recognition of horse racing betting and charity lotteries as "acceptable" forms of excitement survived the colonial period and influenced later licensing approaches.

Binary regulation: the habit of distinguishing between "high" and "grassroots" game was reflected in post-war politics - an emphasis on licenses, public order, sobriety, and advertising control.

Cultural memory: port games, club nights and seasonal fairs are entrenched in local narratives, music and urban legends, forming a special "Gayan" mixture of discipline and carnivality.

9) The bottom line

Colonial Guyana inherited a paradox of excitement: it both fed the urban economy and provoked moral campaigns. Gaming practices formed social ties, distributed leisure and created microfinance mechanisms - from lotteries to "pools." And the double standards of control set the tone for later regulation: licenses, policing, advertising restrictions and the desire to separate "respectable" excitement from the underground. It was this tension between leisure freedom and public virtue that became key to understanding the evolution of gambling in Guyana after the colonial era.