The true origins of casinos and many casino games are not entirely known but it is evident that gambling has been around for a very long time. The very first recorded account of gambling dates back to 2300 BC in Ancient China. Since then it has been present in many different forms in almost every society.
Ancient Greece; The Roman Empire; Elizabethan England and Napoleon’s France is riddled with stories of games of chance, denoting an incredibly rich history for gambling through the ages. Law decreed that children were to be taught to gamble during the Roman Empire and rulers of Norway and Sweden are believed to have rolled a pair of dice for ownership of land.
The Evolution of Casino Games
The history of casino games goes back a long way and practically all of the original versions of many of them have been modified over the years to become the games and their variations we know today like some released by different casino software providers.
Casino games can be described as a pursuit in which one gambles money or property on probable outcomes. Three types of casino games being random number games; table games and gaming machines have all been popular to play and had a long volatile history. Even though many have been outlawed at some point in history, many games have also made their mark and produced positive results like the use of lotteries to build schools like Harvard and Oxford and the Great Wall of China was built with funds raised from keno.
The origins of games like craps date back to ancient times where Witch doctors were known to throw bones to reveal the outcome of one’s health while roulette came about with one man experimenting on the idea of perpetual motion. Card games were originally from the French who however played on carved wood with pictures of nobility on them. The suits as we know today were later developed by the French, which gave rise to certain games like poker and blackjack.
The First Land Based Casinos
The history of land-based casinos began with little houses, which is what the word casino translates to mean. The little houses or pavilions were used to host functions and parties that had music, dancing and games of chance. The games became the popular feature of the parties that the little houses grew to larger gambling halls.
Monaco saw the first modern day casino in 1861, which changed the history of casinos to become what they are today. Monaco is still a hub for casinos and has grown to become one of the best casino destinations. Real money casinos in the United Kingdom only became legal in 1960 but players had travelled to legal destinations around Europe to enjoy the games.
The history of gambling in America has been volatile with laws being on and off since the 1600’s although Native Americans have always had traditional games of chance. It was only in 1931 that the state of Nevada legalized gambling which saw the establishment of Las Vegas, which is now the city of casinos.