From the Morning Chronicle, 26 March 1811
A blacksmith at Stroud ate on Tuesday, for a trifling wager, a pint of periwinkles with the shells, in the space of ten minutes. Being desired to repeat this disgusting feat he readily did it, but he is now so dangerously ill that he is not expected to recover.
In Rome, in 81 BC laws were passed such that creditors could not sue for gambling debts, but losers could sue to have their losses returned.
Cicero viewed gambling as superstition; he disliked it because he thought it was an attempt to force the hand of the gods.