History of Casinos

Casinos have a reputation for being glamorous places where the rich and famous do their gambling. But very few people know or imagine the humble origins of this form of entertainment. The casinos really became a form of entertainment in remote towns. Long before anyone thought of the idea of casinos, gambling already existed and was very popular among the inhabitants of ancient Greece and Egypt. From gladiator fighting, to horse racing, these inhabitants gambled on everything. But at the beginning, the gambling was not as organized as it is now. At the beginning there were no gambling houses or civilized queues in which people waited patiently to gamble.

The initial chaos of gambling changed in the XVII century, when the Italian aristocrats began to gamble, and eventually developed a more civilized game. And although gambling was illegal, middle and lower class Italians carried on gambling. However, some things have not changed. As is the case now, the majority of casinos were not favoured by some local authorities. Nevertheless, casinos carried on growing in popularity all around Italy. Due to their popularity, it was only a question of time before a city would inaugurate a totally legal casino. And so it was that in 1638 the city of Vienna took the initiative of opening the first legal casino in history. Of course, the access to the casino was restricted to the aristocracy of the period.

The popularity of the casinos grew so much that in the XVIII century the first version of the modern casino was built – dedicated not only to games, but also to fascinating its visitors. However, nowadays it seems that history has gone backwards. People are no longer interested in the glamour of casinos. The only thing the players of today want is to gamble. Hence in the mid-nineties online casinos emerged. "To gamble is a hobby that is not expensive and is relatively cheap. Bets are small and affordable. People will continue allowing themselves a small whim even in bad times”, said Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the European Remote Gambling Association, in an interview with the news agency Reuters.