GAMBLING CASINO HISTORY - LAS VEGAS CASINO INFO

Gambling Information > Gambling Casino History, Las Vegas Casino Info

The term "casino" comes from the Italian word for house, casa. The diminutive form casino was used to describe a small house, like a cottage. Later on, the same word was applied to houses in the countryside used for entertainment, including gambling. These country houses were visited by Venetian nobles in early 18th century, who wanted some pastime out of control of the church. As such it was used in the English language from 18th century, and by 1851 the meaning had changed to "gambling establishment", which is how we use it today.

In the 18th century there were also health resorts all over Europe, and it was popular among those who could afford it to spend some time at one of these. One of the popular ones were Spa in Belgium. This resort south east of Liège added a gambling house called Redoute to its program in 1763. Gambling houses did of course exists elsewhere at this time, but Redoute is usually regarded as the first casino. During the French Revolution, Redoute was forced to close until Napoleon Bonaparte re-opened it in 1806.

During the time it was closed, the centre of the gambling business had moved to Germany and places like Aachen, Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden, all health resorts. The Germans built large complexes in the style of classicism, with theatres and concert halls. People now game to the health resorts for gambling as much as for improving their health.

In 1849 all German casinos were forced shut by politicians. The only one still allowed was the one in Bad Homburg, where the owner managed to reconstruct its business to a private club. This only worked until 1872 when it was forbidden to act as a bank in gambling, and this was the case until 1933.

In France casinos had started appearing in the early 19th century as well, along the Atlantic coast. Dieppe, Biarritz, Trouville and Deauville all had famous casinos, where not only the French but also the English nobles liked to gamble. This was also when bathing became popular, so older health resorts in the inland, had a hard time competing with the trendy new places along the coast.

In 1856 the famous casino of Monte Carlo opened and it followed a German tradition of being federally owned, bringing a lot of money to the state. During La belle epoque Monte Carlo and its casino became famous all over the world, with all the world coming there; actors, royalty, authors and musicians. This casino still serves as a model for the new casinos that open every year around the world.

In 1931, six people were give concession to start a casino in Las Vegas, and after World War II the first casino in the US opened; The Fabulous Flamingo. It lay on the main street of Las Vegas, The Strip, and was soon followed by many others. Organized crime played an important part in the early days of casinos in Las Vegas. When Las Vegas was founded in 1911 it had 800 inhabitants. Today it's the fastest growing city in the United States, with over 1.4 million inhabitants. Atlantic City in New Jersey opened a casino in 1978 and in 1987 it was decided that native Indians could open casinos on their reservations. One third of all reservations now have a casino or more.

Today, there are hundreds of casinos all over the world, usually following the Monte Carlo model with the state bringing home the money of the tourists.