"Gambling. The native people gambled heavily on these and other sporting activities. While the European colonists did not take up lacrosse, they gambled on virtually everything. In 1752 William Stith preached a sermon before Virginia’s general assembly on “The sinfulness and pernicious nature of gaming.” In 1765, William Byrd, one of the colonies’ richest men, had to sell four hundred slaves to cover his gambling debts. Colonists gambled on horses, cockfights, fistfights, and cards."
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