Cricket began in England about 500 years ago and was originally played by amateurs for pleasure. It developed after the industrial revolution when the poor took up the seasonal game for employment. The laws of cricket were created to favor batsmen, as gentlemen typically played as batsmen and helped develop the game. As a result, cricket came to be seen as a "gentlemen's game" that discriminated between the rich and poor. The game has since evolved but still retains some biases originally put in place to benefit wealthy amateur players.