History of Land Based and Online Casinos
The art of wagering has a long and storied history, but no archaeologist or scientist would be able to tell us quite when it began. Many believe that the thrill of gaming is in our blood as a way of coping with civilization that is simply less deadly and dangerous than our former lives in the wild ever were. Whatever the reason, people from all around the world love the opportunity to get together, have fun and maybe bring home a great deal of money in the process. Today there are few activities which can boast so many loyal fans and to think that the first recorded incidents of organized gaming occurred in ancient China only a few thousand years ago seems odd, but it is true as far as we know. That first incident was a national lottery and it would not be until a great many years later that the first casinos would appear in Italy as parts of the main property of Italian villa owners. These casinos, the Latin term for ‘little houses’, would prove to be quite popular with the friends of the wealthy, but it would not be until much later that the first public access casino, the Casino di Venezia, would be founded in Venice. This landmark casino is still standing and many tourists each year got see it and pay their respects to the beginning of organized gaming as we know it today.
In Europe the first major casinos were set up in Monaco and those are still in operation even now. This is where European citizens went to get their gaming fix, coming from a vast variety of different countries and even sailing in from ports a far to get a glimpse of the night life, the fun and the chance to win a whole lot of money. Gaming would crop up in other nations across Europe for many years after this and when those Europeans began to settle what is now the United States, they brought their games of chance with them. After the colonization of that territory was complete, the Wild West age would dawn on America and gambling would become an incredibly popular past time that the country has had something of an on and off relationship with since those times. Casinos wouldn’t be truly started until the Great Depression, which brought about the reinvisioning of Las Vegas as a gaming super center. This massive change triggered a whole new era of cities that would cater to players and their desire to have endless nights of fun and winning, a tradition that continues today.
Then, in the mid 1990’s, a new trend would arise, riding on the back of the great beast called the internet. Online casinos began to spring up then and they took off like wildfire because they allowed people the fun experience of gaming without ever needing to leave their homes. Today, both types of casinos thrive better than anyone could have predicted so long ago and it appears the future will be even brighter.