The Evolution of Casinos
If you think about a casino today, no doubt you’ll picture one of the grand resorts in Las Vegas – full of well-dressed players sipping champagne and expensive scotch as they gamble on exciting table games like blackjack and poker or spin the reels on slot machines. Surrounded by opulence and glamour, from the marble-topped bars to the mirrored chandeliers, the casino is the ultimate in luxury.
Casinos are so iconic that they have permeated every part of our culture, from movies to TV shows, books, and even music. Going to a casino is an awesome night out and one of the top choices for things like stag nights – and a visit to Las Vegas is a bucket list must-do for so many people.
But how did we get here? Where did the casino come from? How did we develop from the earliest gambling (with stones and leaves) to the rule-laden, technologically innovative games in the online space that we see today? You can find a new online casino in their recent review.
The Earliest Gamblers
Gambling, in its most basic form is the act of wagering something of value on an event with the intention of winning something else of value.
The earliest records of gambling date back to the Palaeolithic period, which is before written history even existed. In Mesopotamia, a six-sided die was found that dated back to at least 3000BCE. China is often where we find the earliest versions of things, and gambling is no different. From as early as 1000BCE, gambling was prevalent in China – betting on the outcome of animal fighting.
The earliest playing cards were found in China dating back to the about the 9th Century.
The Bible mentions casting lots to divide property (an early form of gambling), and more connected with divinity and fate than what we would consider gambling today – but all to do with luck, if you believe in that sort of thing.
The earliest card game that we still play today is Baccarat, which was first mentioned in literature in around 1400s. Around 1600, the earliest form of Blackjack appeared in Europe, and the first casinos (which came from the Italian for ‘house’) appeared in the early 17th Century in Italy. The Ridotto was the first controlled casino, opened in Venice during carnival season in 1638.
Gambling in many forms has always been heavily policed by authorities, often only allowed when it became clear that it was an excellent way for the government to raise revenues. Organised sports betting dates to the 17th century, while poker really got going in America as the settlers travelled there from Europe in the mid-1800s.
Of course, technology and innovation are a big part of the modern-day casino, with slot machines a massive chunk of income for brick-and-mortar casinos as well as online it is probably surprising that the first slot machines were invented before the turn of the 20th Century – by a mechanic in San Francisco.
Slot machines grew in popularity, despite the Prohibition and crackdowns by religion and the government in the States – and by the time WWII ended, it became clear that this was a way that the government could grow their income through taxation.
The Roots of the Casino
So, how did we go from a salon in an Italian house to the sprawling super resort casinos in Las Vegas?
Whether you think that the casino is a den of iniquity or an exciting night out, the draw of the casino is two-fold. Some go for the rush of adrenaline that comes from placing a wager on the outcome of a hand of cards, while others go to soak in the atmosphere and the ambience of excess that the casino has become synonymous with.
The earliest casinos might have been dull and dingy – and this was a purposeful thing, a rule created by the governments who stated that the casino couldn’t be bright and accessible because they wanted to make it less comfortable for players.
As rules and regulations relaxed – and governments realised the value of taxation on these premises – casinos developed to be hubs of bright lights, exciting music, and even entertainment in the form of theatre and burlesque performances, circus acts, musicians, comedians, and magicians.
A stay in one of the casinos on the Las Vegas strip feels like stepping into another world. The Venetian, as you might expect, has been designed to look and feel like you have stepped into Venice, with canals and boats as a mainstay of the décor. Not only are they well-designed in terms of looks, but also in what they can offer – luxurious rooms to stay in, shopping opportunities in high-end boutiques, and the best chef-led restaurants in the world.
Playing games on the casino floor is only a small part of the overall experience of going to a casino – and that is why casino operators are investing so much in the future of their brick-and-mortar establishments.
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