History of the Casino
Throughout the centuries prior to the first casinos being developed – gambling was extremely prevalent across the globe. Various civilisations in fact, had participated in some form of betting – the Greek’s would place money and possessions on the outcome of a gladiator battle, on horses, and even on chariot racing. Yet, stakes were predominantly small, and bets were placed unofficially with friends and foes, rather than with any recognised bookmaker.
It was the Italians who progressed the idea of a particular venue for gambling, in the 17th century. The nobleman and upper-classes began to host social occasions and parties in grandiose villas, these exclusive ‘clubs’ became known as ‘ridotti’ or ‘ridotti clubs’, and would house a variety of games in which money could be gambled. Betting was highly illegal in Italy at the time, yet the authorities did little to deter the influx of these private events. Gambling began to percolate down to the lower and working classes, yet their ability to stage such discreet and select affairs as ‘riddoti’ was minimal.
In 1638, despite gambling still being frowned upon by governments, Vienna became home to the first legal casino, it was named Ridotti after the popularity of the aforementioned clubs, and offered a selection of card games for gamblers to play.
Although not resembling to the traditional appearance of the modern day casino, trends began to develop, and the 18th century brought about a wave of gambling houses across Europe, each becoming hives of frenetic excitement and energy. The word ‘casino’ represents this development of organised gambling, it is a diminutive of the Italian, ‘casa’, to simply mean ‘house’, and was firstly used to refer to social gatherings, later alluding to buildings whereby people could dance, listen to music, and lastly, gamble.
The awareness of the ‘casino’ became more widespread, ‘Casino Baden-Baden’ in Germany opened in 1748 and demonstrated a far more opulent and ostentatious design, similar to casinos of the present day – miraculously, ‘Casino Baden-Baden’ is still fully operational today, some two hundred and fifty years since its inauguration.
France, and in particular Monte Carlo, began to centralise itself in the gambling world; in 1863, the ‘Monte Carlo Casino’ opened in Monaco and became a popular attraction for the wealthy inhabitants of the French Riviera. The 20th century witnessed America’s rise to prominence as the casino superpower – in 1931, the state of Nevada legalised gambling and in 1941, the first Las Vegas casino was created; ‘El Rancho Vegas’. This, in turn, led to the ‘Vegas Strip’ becoming an infamous haunt for gambling fanatics worldwide – it would spawn such revered establishments as ‘The Palazzo’, ‘The Mirage’, and the ‘MGM Grand Casino’.
In recent years, Atlantic City and Macau (a special administrative region of China) have also emerged as casino ‘havens’, with the latter, in 2007, being declared the world’s highest grossing gambling venue.