First bookmaker

The first person to turn a profit as a bookmaker is thought to be Harry Ogden, who operated at Newmarket Heath, UK, during the mid-1790s. Prior to this, people who wished to bet on horse racing would simply make bets against one another, usually with equal odds on each selection. Ogden was the first to look at the entire field and offer different odds on every horse – taking into account each horse and carefully calculating its chance of winning so that he would make a profit.