The casino feels like it’s built into much of our culture, especially in the West, but the gambling establishment has an interesting – and in the case of the United States, rocky – history. The emergence of the online casino has transformed the experience of playing and made card games, table games and slots available to everyone, but many people still enjoy the thrill of a land-based casino and the glamour associated with it.
Here at Casino777.nl, we’re fascinated by the history of individual casino games, but also by the history of the casino itself. Today we’ll be taking a look back at how the modern casino evolved with a brief history of the casino and its evolution.
2300 BC: Earliest Record of Gambling
While the concept of minted currency was still over 1,000 years in the making, we have the first known record of gambling from around the year 2300 BC. Of course, the concept of gambling doesn’t rely on cash, and it’s very likely that it’s actually one of the earliest forms of entertainment and dates back to many years before this.
800 AD: The First Playing Cards
The earliest known iterations of the modern playing card, it’s generally agreed, can be found from around the year 800 AD in China. Gambling card games are mentioned in texts from the era of the T’ang Dynasty when a game with dice and leaves (pages) from a book were used. Later, iterations of card games have been found printed on blocks of wood.
1638: First Land-Based Casino
It wasn’t until the 17th Century that buildings dedicated purely to gambling began to appear in Europe. The earliest known casino was in Venice, Italy – ‘casa’ meaning house, ‘casino’ meaning small villa or social club. It was not originally called ‘casino’, but it was definitely a regulated place for people to enjoy gambling during the carnival season.
1800s: Gambling Spreads Throughout Europe
The 19th Century was when casinos really took off in Europe, and appeared in the United States thanks to colonists. The late 1800s also marked the appearance of the very first slot machine, a mechanical contraption called The Liberty Bell, which still bears a lot of resemblance to the online slots of today.
1930s: Gambling Legalised in Some US States
The US has an historically complicated relationship with gambling, but in the 1930s regulated casinos were legalised in some states, most notably in Nevada in 1931. Las Vegas continues to be the most iconic gambling destination in the world to this day.
2000s: Online Gambling Has Lift-Off
Soon after the internet came online gambling. Video poker, online live gaming and online slots took off in a huge way and today online casinos are a billion dollar industry.
When you choose our fantastic Casino777.nl, you can enjoy a whole range of top quality games. Whatever you choose, always remember to bet responsibly. Here at Casino777.nl, we regard player wellbeing as our number one priority – check out our Responsible Gambling tips and tools page for more information.
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