What would the world be like without casinos? For a start Las Vegas would be a very different place, resembling the sleepy little mining town that it was before its first casino was licensed in 1931.
Of course, the history of casinos goes back a lot further than 1931. The world’s first casino was the Casino de Venezia, which opened in the 1630s. The name ‘casino’ comes from the Italian phrase for ‘little house’. In modern Italian, the word for gambling establishments is spelt casinò.
Ever since their conception, casinos have proved extremely popular across the globe, coming in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. Of course, Las Vegas’ notoriety was borne of its large concentration of gambling establishments, which dominate the main strip. These casinos are not just gambling establishments, they also stage elaborate shows by stars of stage and screen.
Casinos have been of the subject of many feature films over the years, ranging from all time classics – such as The Cincinnati Kid and the Robert DeNiro film, called simply, Casino – right through to modern day blockbusters such as the Ocean’s trilogy.
Literally as soon as the internet was conceived, people founded gambling websites so that others could enjoy the thrill of the casino in their own homes. These online casinos have grown massively popular in recent years and are growing all the time in both size and sophistication. Despite the growth in popularity of online casinos, thousands, if not millions, of people worldwide flock to real life casinos every year.
A well respected American businessman, Richard Albert Canfield, once said:
"They gambled in the Garden of Eden, and they will again if there's another one."
If this is correct, then casinos will be with us for a very long time to come.
Learn more about the differences in online casinos and their real-world counterparts.
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