Gambling today is so easy: power up your computer or grab your smartphone, and you’ll find a ton of online casinos waiting for you to join and play. 

According to Casinos.com growth of online gambling increases year on year. The first online casino, InterCasino, was launched in 1994, but before the internet was invented, there were land-based casinos, and they’ve been around for centuries.

So, where did it all begin? Join us on a history lesson to discover the origins of your favorite hand-held games.

Gambling in Ancient Times

Historians believe that back in 200 BC in ancient China, people played White Pigeon Ticket, also known as The Pigeon Lottery or pak kop piu. Introduced during the Han Dynasty, it was a way for Emperor Gāozǔ to raise money to fund an army.

Archaeologists suggest that the first card games were played in the 9th century BC, also in China. The cards were vastly different from what we use today. Although they featured pictures of human forms, Europeans introduced the king and queen face cards we’re most familiar with when the games landed there.

In ancient Rome, in 6 BC, a circus was built where people could go and gamble on animal fighting and rudimentary chance games. Archaeologists have discovered dice they believe also came from that era.

The First Gambling Establishments

The first controlled gambling establishment on record is Il Ridotto; it opened in Venice in 1638. Loosely translated to ‘the private room,’ it was a wing of the Palazzo Dandolo near the church of San Moisè. The government figured that if they ran it, they could better control it. 

Even though it was promoted as open to the public, the strict dress code and high-stakes bets meant that only noblemen could get in. The most popular card game at the time was called basetta, a cross between blackjack, poker, and gin rummy. Successful players could win 60 times their wager. 

Almost 150 years later, in 1774, Giorgio Pisani petitioned the Great Council of Venice to close it down to preserve purity, encourage sound discipline, and moderate the people’s behavior.

Gambling Saloons

Initially, gambling became popular in the US at saloons. These public houses were where people could drink, socialize, and bet. The first-ever saloon was believed to be opened in 1822 in Brown’s Hole, Wyoming. Its clientele were fur trappers traveling through the district.

Rudy Henry and Harry Rockwell were pioneers of the saloon business. One of the most well-known ones in the US is the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas. It featured prominently in the TV series Gunsmoke, and Doc Adams, Marshal Dillon, and Kitty Russell were real people connected to it. It was closed for good in 1885, but a replica exists today at the Boot Hill Museum Entertainment Complex in Dodge City.

Land-Based Casinos in America

In the early 1800s in New Orleans, the French and the Spanish allowed gambling, and places known as gambling halls and dens were established. The first-ever full-service casino on American soil is believed to be Crescent City House, which John Davis opened in 1827. 

Five years later, in 1832, The Palace of Fortune opened up in DC, the first casino in the nation’s capital. In 1858, riverboat casinos grew in popularity in Mississippi. 

Nevada in the 1900s

The state of Nevada has a rich history of casinos and gambling and has seen many changes. In 1861, the state made it a felony to gamble, only to reverse the decision in 1869. In 1910, the state once again banned all gambling. However, in 1913, it allowed open gambling, not commercial.

It was in 1931 when things got more interesting. The state was in a severe recession and decided to legalize commercial gambling fully. In 1935, in Reno, Harold’s Club was the first modern-day casino to open, and at the time was the largest in the world.

In 1941, the first Las Vegas casino, El Rancho, opened. It was the first of many to become part of the famous Las Vegas Strip. The following year, the Hotel Last Frontier was the second casino to open on The Strip.

Bugsy Siegel was a major player in the casino scene and opened the Flamingo Casino in December 1946. 

El Rancho is gone—the Fontainebleau now sits in its location—and the land where the Hotel Last Frontier stood is now owned by Wynn Group, but to this day lies vacant. The Flamingo Las Vegas is still there in its original spot.

Las Vegas is still the entertainment capital of the US. People don’t just go there to gamble. Live shows, shopping, hotels, and restaurants all draw people in every night of the year. Many people even move there so that they can enjoy these things year-round.

Atlantic City Takes Off

While Nevada held the gambling crown for decades, East Coasters wanted a closer playground, and in 1976, casinos were legalized in the state of New Jersey.

The first casino to be built in 1978 was the Resorts Atlantic City, which is still in its original place on the Boardwalk today. 

The 1980s saw a construction boom in Atlantic City, with The Sands, Harrah’s, The Golden Nugget, and Tropicana all opening their doors in the first two years of the decade. During the 1990s boom, Donald Trump owned three casinos, which all eventually closed down; the last one became a Hard Rock Casino in 2017. 

Atlantic City casinos began to fall into decline starting in 2010. Online casinos became more popular as people chose to play from home rather than head to a brick-and-mortar casino. But only time will tell whether or not this advent and future technologies like VR will one day spell the end of land-based casinos—perhaps one day they’ll just become remnants of the past.