Of all the myths and faux facts surrounding gambling, few are more misleading than the idea that only men are involved in and enjoy casino games. True, for many decades men dominated the industry as well as the playing floors, but that doesn’t mean that women haven’t been intricately involved in gambling throughout history.
Girl Gamblers in Ancient History
The involvement of women in the pastime is evident right back to the earliest days of gambling, more than 4,500 years ago in countries such as Egypt, China, India, Greece and Italy. Back then, gambling was based on games for anyone, be they men, women, poor, wealthy, old or young. However, there were some strange rules regarding the genders and gambling. For example, men were allowed to gamble wherever they pleased, while women could only gamble during the women’s festival of Bona Dea. At least, that was until Emperor Nero came to the throne and allowed women to gamble just as much as men.
From England to the Wild West
By the 18th century, entirely new gambling restrictions had been placed on women, particularly those with wealth. Aristocratic women were not to indulge in such activities, despite the fact that their male equals often gathered at social clubs. To avoid judgement, many of the fancier women simply choose to play games in the comfort of their own homes.
Eventually, a group of women who often played faro became famous for hosting spectacular games, gaining the nicknames “Faro’s Daughters” and “Faro Ladies”. Some of these women included Mrs Albinia Hobart, aka Lady Buckinghamshire, Lady Sarah Archer, Mrs Sturt, Mrs Concannon and Lady Elizabeth Luttrell.
However, according to author and historian Mike Rendell, the group met quite the unhappy ending.
As the late 1800s rolled around, women began to play a huge role in the American Wild West gambling scene – particularly Alice Huckert, otherwise known as Poker Alice. As online casino Betway explains, Poker Alice was one of the most famous female figures in the American frontier having travelled to casinos around the nation.
When the three-time widow arrived in Deadwood in the 1890s, she was already renowned on the gambling scene and made a small fortune playing poker as well as being a dealer. Rumour has it that Poker Alice could win as much as $6000 on a good night, equivalent to about $160,000 in today’s money.
Around this same time, Lottie Deno also began to make a name for herself in Texas after learning how to play poker from her father. After much success on the circuit and an incredible victory against one of the most infamous players of all time Doc Holliday, she earned the name Poker Queen. According to True West Magazine, Deno was even the inspiration behind Miss Kitty in the television show Gunsmoke as well as Laura Denbow in Gunfight at OK Corral (1957). Poker Annie and Lottie Deno are definitely the most famous female poker players in the late 19th century, but we imagine that they certainly weren’t the only ones.
From Dancers to Dealers
Unfortunately, as the USA grew, it became clear that the bigger casinos were leaning towards their male customers, most likely because they were often the breadwinners with much more disposable income. In the 1950s, when Las Vegas began to attract avid casino gamblers from around the world, they very much focused on the male clientele with women often taking the role of dancer rather than dealer. That is, until the 1990s when much of Vegas was rebranded to be universally friendly, and thus more gambling games aimed at women such as cute slots began to appear. With a much more relaxed, nicer atmosphere, women also felt as though there may be room for them at the poker tables again.
Modern Day Gambler Girls
As the new millennium began, female poker players began to appear more frequently on the modern-day poker circuit. This may be due to the introduction of online poker, which allowed women to play the casino game without having to enter an admittedly male-orientated arena. One of the first women to enter this brave new world was Annie Duke, who held the title of highest female earner in poker for many years. In 2002, while at the World Series of Poker Championship, Duke managed to finish in 10th place despite the fact she was nine months pregnant. Two years later, Duke won at the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and in 2010, triumphed at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Annette Obrestad has a similar story, though entered into the world of poker at a much earlier age. Obrestad burst onto the scene at just 15 years old and by the age of 18, she had already earned over $836,000 in online poker winnings.
To this day, she is the youngest person in history to a win a coveted World Series of Poker bracelet, which she claimed during the 2007 Europe tournament.
Alas, though these women have certainly achieved unimaginable feats in the world of poker and have helped to bring more female players into the fold, few can compete with the accomplishments of Vanessa Selbst. To date, she is the most successful woman in poker and is the only female poker player in history to top the Global Poker Index. She is also the first female to take part in a Super High Roller tournament and is estimated to have won over $11.8 million from poker games over the year making her the highest female earner in poker history as well. As if that wasn’t impressive, Selbst has also won three World Series of Poker bracelets, something few people in the world have achieved.
Now, it is not unusual to see women sitting at a poker table or taking positions high up in the poker industry. We think that Women’s Poker World Managing Editor Danielle Benham said it best when she explained: “Women are gaining ground on their male counterparts in the world of casino gaming; we are not there yet but we are definitely getting closer every day.”
