THE ORIGINS OF Casinos

Going To The Casino And Gambling Is Fun, But Did You Know That The History Of The Casino Industry Is Equally Interesting? Read On To Know Some Truly Fun Facts About It!

- MANSIDAK KAUR

Humankind has always been avidly interested in new ways of spending time in fun ways. One fine day, this search led them to the notion of gambling. Since then, we’ve all enjoyed the fruits of labour of that person’s thought process. If you’re as interested in knowing about this interesting history behind gambling and its origins, read ahead.

Ancient Times

We can very safely say that gambling predates recorded history. And it was not just the Chinese, even the Romans have a huge contribution to the origins of gambling and casinos. After crossing the Rubicon and beginning his campaign of becoming Rome’s dictator, Julius Caesar made a famous proclamation, “the die is cast.” Now this concept was not exactly foreign to the wealthy Romans, who were used to participating in public gambling during the Saturnalia festival. This is one hobby that apparently ran in the family, since his nephew, Augustus - the first emperor of Rome - was known for holding raffles at lavish banquets. He was also known for playing the Roman game ‘alea’ - which was an early form of backgammon. Emperor Claudius was a notorious dice player and Caligula was also a big gambler. Some historians hold the belief that the game of craps originated in Ancient Rome. Soldiers would use upturned shields as tables and pig knuckles for dice. This is why we still use “knucklebones” as a slang for dice games today, even after 2000 years.