One by one, the horses trot onto the track, pulling single-seat chariots behind them. The clip-clop of their hooves rises to a cacophony as the announcer shouts, “And they’re off!” The contest for supremacy in horse racing is more than just a sport—it’s a tradition steeped in pageantry and time-honored customs that captivate fans around the world. But as the sport’s popularity has grown, so too have concerns about animal welfare. From track conditions to veterinary care, the industry is working hard to make the sport safer for its most important participants: the horses.

Horse races evolved from primitive contests of speed and stamina between two horses into a spectacle with large fields of runners, sophisticated electronic monitoring equipment, and immense sums of money, but their essential feature has never changed. Each horse races against the others in a field, and if its jockey and horse can reach the finish line first, it wins.

The first recorded horse race was held in 1651 as the result of a wager between two noblemen. By the reign of Louis XIV (reigned 1643-1715), horse racing had become a popular pastime among the upper classes, and rules were established to ensure that bets were legitimate. These included requiring certificates of origin for the horses, and imposing extra weight on foreigners. In addition, a jockey club was formed, and a code of conduct was established that required the riders to act in a dignified manner while racing.

By the late 18th century, demand for public races had increased, and a variety of races were developed to attract a wider audience. Some were based on age, sex, or birthplace; others were restricted to particular towns or counties. The most prestigious races were known as graded stakes. These events offered the biggest prizes, and the winners were often declared as photo finishes. Eventually, a system of grouping horses into groups by their assigned claiming price was introduced to ensure that more skilled horses did not dominate lower divisions.

Ownership turnover is high in the racing business, and many Thoroughbreds are sold or “claimed” multiple times during their careers. When this happens, a new owner typically assumes full responsibility for the horse’s training and upkeep, with previous owners losing little control over where the horse ends up. These transactions were facilitated by an agreement between the parties, which was recorded by disinterested third parties called keepers of the match books.

The enduring appeal of horse racing stems not only from its storied traditions and the ceremonial pageantry that surrounds it, but also from its ability to generate vast sums of money. Whether the money is flowing to the owners of Kentucky Derby champions or to thousands of farm workers in rural America, it adds up to a huge economic impact. Estimates are hard to pin down, but they certainly exceed billions.

More than 300 years ago a Frenchman named Blaise Pascal invented the roulette wheel and game. It was during his search for a perpetual motion machine that he came up with this casino game which is now a staple of most gambling establishments. Players bet on either a single number or various groupings of numbers, the color red or black, whether the number is high or low, etc. The chips used for this game are very different than most other table games as they don’t have a specific denomination printed on them, instead each player has his own set of colored chips which are placed on the betting table in a specific area that is labeled with the bets and their payout.

The house edge for this game is a bit higher than that of other casino games as there is an extra green spot on the wheel that all even money bets lose when the ball lands in. But aside from this one extra spot the odds of winning are the same as all other bets at 2-1.

Despite the fact that roulette seems to be a simple and random game there are many, (possibly millions) of systems on how to beat it. The American mathematician Patrick Billingsley has stated that “no betting system can convert a subfair game into a profitable enterprise.” It is true that you will find a few people who are able to win consistently at roulette but they all use a rigged wheel and have some sort of mechanical advantage such as a biased tracker or some type of tracking device.