Tarot and Triumphs: The Italian Origins of Card Gambling

A product of the Renaissance in Italy, Tarot is a game that is wrapped in mysticism and chance, though it is one of the important precursors to modern card games. It is most well known as a Cartomantic game – meaning one that was used to tell fortunes and predict the future. But that was not how Tarot was originally played. Tarot has evolved into all kinds of games in its colourful history, some of which were the precursors to famous casino games. Poker, baccarat and blackjack, and some of the elements of Tarot can even be found in roulette or slot machines.

That wouldn’t be the fortune-telling element, but the card game based on chance and luck. Tarot was a trick taking game, like bridge or Euchre, before it became the mystical game we know today. And Tarot didn’t originate in France. It was an Italian game, that was popularized during the Renaissance.

Origins of Tarot

Playing cards were brought into Italy in the late 14th century, from Mamluk, in Egypt. Mamluk Egyptian playing cards had suits of cups, swords, coins and polo sticks. These cards were carried from Egypt to Italy through merchants and trade. Italy, being one of the biggest trading points connecting Europe and the Levant, was where a lot of these types of games would enter Europe. Though Italy consisted of numerous kingdoms and regions, each of which adapted the cards and made their own games. Several card games were born from these decks, including Trionfi, Trappola, and Minchiate, among others.

Trappola was a game played in Venice, using similar cards, and was a trick taking game. Minchiate was a game that was closely tied to the Italian nobility, hailing from Florence. Trionfi also came from Florence and introduced an allegorical and political edge to the game. All of these card games used hand-painted cards, of which very few survive today. They used standardised suits, but also included images depicting moral, philosophical, and societal orders.

Trionfi Becomes Tarrochini

Further complicating things, in the 15th century a game called Triomphe was developed in France. This card game, like Trionfi, was a trick-taking game, using a 52 deck of cards with four suits. Trionfi was also a trick-taking game, but it was played with 22 trump cards, known as Major Arcana. To distinguish the Italian game from the French, Trionfi was renamed Tarocchi, which would later become Tarot.

The games had a competitive edge to them, and while they had skill based elements, they were purely based on luck and the draw of cards. The mystical roots of Tarot had already been sown, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that Tarot would become a tool of divination.

How Tarot Became a Cartomantic Device

In the 18th century, French occultists such as Antoine Court de Gebelin or Jean-Baptiste Alliette reinterpreted the Italian card game. They used the game of chance as a means to read the future, giving Tarot an esoteric wisdom. The belief, or perhaps a gambler’s superstition, that these cards could read the future or have mystical meanings quickly caught on.

Variants such as Tarot de Marseille arose, and soon the French created their own Tarot-inspired cards. This version of Tarot is very much still alive today, and while Tarot spread to Germany, Spain, and Portugal, the mystical element has always remained. Nowadays, we don’t tend to think of Tarot as being a game similar to Bridge. It is more an esoteric practice of predicting the future and reading fortunes.

How Tarot Has Influenced Modern Gambling

The spiritual game may not have had much influence or legacy in the world of card gaming. But Tarot cards have contributed quite a lot to our modern casino games. The structural manner of the trump games and the possible gambling edge that they created are very similar to the card games we play for real money today. They inspired a card game called Primero, a 16th century card game that is strikingly similar to our modern poker games.

These card based games were originally hard to come by, as Tarot Cards (and variations of them) were hand-made and often only found in royal courts. Wealthy noble families, like the Visconti and Sforza, commissioned hand-painted Tarot cards as a luxurious pastime. But with the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in the mid-15th century, the card game became more widespread. Tarot Cards were mass-produced and spread out to France and Switzerland, among many other key trading nations of the time.

The games involved luck and uncertainty, but they had a definitive strategic edge to them. This skill based game had a palpable appeal, and would have certainly paved the way for card game gambling and betting. Apart from Primero to Poker, there is no direct bridge between the games themselves and our modern casino games. But they definitely created the demand and opened up the doors to our interest in card based gambling.

Legacy of Tarot in Card Based Gambling

Card gambling has long been a favorite pastime of risk takers. Though we approach it in a different light than slots, roulette, or dice based casino games. The complexities of card based games, and the vast array of possibilities are perplexing, yet compelling. Games such as blackjack or video poker give players a chance to influence the outcome of a round. Thus, this creates the possibility for someone to get better and make more mathematically sound decisions in these games. Or, in the case of blackjack, count the cards to see if they can get an edge over the house.

In poker, you are playing against your peers, something that is closer to Primero and trump card games. The gambles you take are against your fellow player, so there is no house edge, and the games are determined more by chance or strategy. It gives rise to bluffing strategies, the use of advanced mathematical systems, and a keen wit to keep opponents guessing.

And then some games don’t have any decision-making save for how much you will stake each round, or which bet you will place. Baccarat, Hi-Lo, and Andar Bahar are just a few popular casino games in which players must make bets and try to beat the house, but without having any influence on the outcome of a round. Yet through their complexities, they create a highly exciting and compelling gambling atmosphere. Sure, the roots to Tarot are symbolic at best, but they do have the same aura of uncertainty and unpredictability.

Dangers of Card Based Gambling

Card based games are very much a double-edged sword of chance, one that you could fall on either side of quite easily. There are many gamblers’ biases that have been formed around games of chance involving cards, some of which are rooted deeply in our behavior and neurological response to gambling. The risk taking can be rewarded with a hit of dopamine if we win our bets, or the cards draw in our favour. And that can reinforce the risk taking, perhaps even giving some players a gambler’s conceit. This can drive them to bet bigger or more aggressively. Especially in games like Baccarat, where there are dozens of strategies involving historical draws.

Losing can incite a complex array of emotions in a gambler, including stress, anxiety, loss of confidence, but it can also lead back to a hit of dopamine. The latter is born out of the urge to try again, and perhaps the next draw will be more fruitful. A lot of gamblers struggle with the notion of randomness.

A common misconception is that the number of wins and losses for a bet should reflect the true mathematical odds. Especially after there have been more wins or losses in recent hands. But in the real world, the outcomes don’t work like that. Variance can come into play, especially if you are only playing a few rounds and not simulating thousands of hands. And this makes it impossible to accurately predict what will happen next.

Betting on the Cards Safely and Responsibly

Gamblers can become addicted to card based games. Especially when they lose frequently and chase their losses or seek to “break the losing streak”. The illusion of skill, can mislead players into thinking they can get an edge over the casino. It is especially prominent in Blackjack or video poker strategists. You must always remember, the games are designed to give the house an edge, no matter how good you are at counting cards or making mathematically sound decisions.

Ultimately, betting on cards must be treated like any other form of gambling. With preplanned budgets, carefully observing the odds, and being played for enjoyment and enjoyment alone. You cannot predict your next Tarot card, just like you can’t predict what your next draw in video poker. So stay in control, don’t play out of emotion, and if you are feeling at a loose end, it is better to take a break and come back later.