Gambling has been around ever since the serpent told Eve, “Bet you can’t eat just one!” In fact, archaeologists have dug up plenty of evidence that the odds are pretty good that forms of gambling thrived in various ancient cultures.

In China they have found what appear to be keno slips from around 200 B.C. that were used to finance public projects, possibly even the Great Wall itself. Say, maybe there’s a possible solution for financing Trump’s wall!

The existence of dice goes back even further as a pair were discovered in an Egyptian tomb from 3000 B.C. Not exactly sure what the mummified gambler planned to do with them, though he likely figured that he was going to have lots of time to kill.

My first personal experience with gambling occurred back in 1967. After graduating from high school, I worked at Union Pacific Railroad headquarters in downtown Omaha as a keypunch operator.

There were about 20 men in my department, and most of us were bored out of our minds with the monotonous work. One popular distraction that helped us maintain our sanity was betting on the summer horse races held at Ak-Sar-Ben Race Track.

On Fridays at work, we would study the daily racing form when we got the chance, which was usually while sitting on the pot. The floor manager no doubt was suspicious over the steady stream of traffic to the men’s restroom and certainly could have nailed us for slacking off, except that he was placing bets too.

After selecting our horses, we would give our picks to one employee who hurried out to the track right after work to make our wagers. It was all perfectly legal, if poor use of company time.

Later, while attending college, I had my first illegal gambling experience. This involved an actual bookie, in this case just some college kid working his way through school. Each Friday morning he handed out college football point-spread sheets in the cafeteria to guys that he knew and trusted and later that day took their bets.

So after buying a cup of nasty vending machine coffee for 25 cents, a guy could while away the time in deep, intellectual debate with his buddies on who will beat whom by five and a half points — or not. The only real harm resulting from this illegal gambling feat was an occasional missed class.

These days my gambling exploits are limited to one annual trek to the local horse racetrack, mainly for a bit of nostalgia. Though I don’t really care about past horse performances or the jockeys, I always buy a race form. I need a form since I make my picks based strictly on the horse with the coolest name.

So, like, if American Pharoah, Affirmed, and Seattle Slew were running in the same race, I would put my money on ‘Odor in the Court’ to win. Needless to say I normally go home with less money than I come with.

After the Supreme Court’s vote to legalize all sorts of sports betting this past week, a logical question on some minds is how it will affect the gambling culture. Of course, there are the obvious concerns such as point shaving, taking a dive, doping, etc.

But there are other potential pitfalls to consider. For one thing, odds are that NFL fans are going to put on a few extra pounds.

Nielsen research indicates “that the average NFL fan who is a non-bettor watches about 15-16 games a year. The average NFL fan who is a bettor watches 45-50 games a year.” Holy smoke! That’s a lot of hours sitting on the couch and scarfing down nachos.

That means that men who also bet on televised basketball, hockey and beach volleyball games throughout the winter won’t be crawling out of their man-caves until around the same time as hibernating grizzly bears emerge — and probably about similar in girth.

Along with its negative effect on bettors’ physical conditions, legalized sports betting could greatly increase fan violence at games.

Let’s say that Duke basketball is favored to beat Ohio College of Clown Arts by 17 points. With 30 seconds remaining and up by 16, Duke decides to dribble around and let time expire.

Can’t you just see some Duke bettor running out on the court, grabbing the ball and dashing to make a layup before the buzzer? Which naturally angers all the betting fans in the stands dressed as clowns resulting in a brawl involving big red noses, giant shoes and various balloon animals!

But by far the most frightening apocalyptic vision resulting from overturning the sports betting law is the prospect of parents betting on their own kids’ youth sports games. A parent at the ballpark could bet that little Johnny will hit for the cycle or Suzie will pitch a no-hitter.

Let me tell you, I once volunteered to umpire a baseball game involving 5th graders and felt lucky to get out of there alive after the game. Every single ball or strike that I called was hotly contested by some parent.

Now imagine that same scenario with parents who have money on the line as well as family pride.

Mike Murphy of Pocatello is an award-winning columnist whose articles are syndicated by Senior Wire. He recently published a book titled “Tortoise Crossing – Expect Long Delays,” which is a collection of 100 of his favorite columns. It is available on Amazon.com.