Casinos are a huge source of interesting myths, legends, and stories that seem too good to be true. There are tales of huge fortunes ($25 million), questionable wealth (atomic bomb parties), and disgusting personal hygiene (adult diapers to keep the game going). Some of the most interesting facts about casinos and gambling come from societies where it is prohibited, proving that it is difficult to keep people away from the temptation of potentially big wins.
Players in Japan are forced to use a huge legal loophole to get their money's worth, while one of the world's most famous casinos in Monaco is banning locals from playing at all. Here are some of the craziest, most interesting facts you probably don't know about the wild world of casinos and gambling.
1. FedEx founder saved the company with a Las Vegas casino win
Here's an inspiring story for aspiring gamblers and small business owners: The founder of FedEx saved his struggling company by gambling in Vegas, winning $$ 27,000 at blackjack! The company only had $5,000 in cash when Frederick Smith decided to fly to Vegas in 1973 and risk it all. While not a great investment or business consulting in general, Smith's gamble paid off, allowing the company to survive long enough to raise $11 million and eventually make its first profit in 1976.
2. Las Vegas got rich from atomic bomb testing in the 1950s.
It sounds like a sick joke, but it’s true: Beginning in 1951, the U.S. Department of Energy began testing more than a thousand atomic nuclei 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The terrifying spectacle “turned night into day,” with atomic mushroom clouds visible from casinos in the thriving tourist hotspot. Vegas being Vegas, the city turned the horror show into a business opportunity, promoting the detonation via official Chamber of Commerce calendars, advertising atomic bomb parties, and offering special “atomic cocktails” in casino bars. There was even a “Miss Atomic Energy” beauty pageant at one of the gambling houses, complete with little atomic mushroom cloud outfits!
3. You can voluntarily ban yourself from casinos
If your gambling addiction gets out of hand, several states allow you to ban yourself from the casino. This means that it is now a crime to set foot on the gaming floor. For example, Ohio has what is called a “Voluntary Exclusion” program for gamblers who want to kick the habit, allowing them to ban themselves for a year, five years, or for life. If you choose a lifetime ban, you understand better: There is no way to cross your name off the list once you have made your permanent exclusion from the casino life.
4. Card counting is perfectly legal, but it doesn't save you from being eliminated from the game
“Card counting” is a perfectly legal strategy in blackjack that involves keeping track of which cards have been dealt and which remain in the deck during play. It’s actually pretty simple math. However, that hasn’t stopped casinos around the world from counting cards, especially if a player has been less than subtle in their approach (actor Ben Affleck, for example, was banned from casinos in 2014 for his cunning). In addition to players leaving or playing another game, casinos are also combating card counting by changing the rules slightly or shuffling the deck more often.
5. The sandwich was invented in a casino
The legend goes like this: In 1765, John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, was such a huge gambler that he didn’t want to leave the gaming table to eat. Instead, Montagu told his servants to simply bring him some meat between sliced bread so he could eat and play at the same time. Thus, the “sandwich” was born…sort of.
In reality, the Count wasn’t much of a gambler, but he did enjoy his food. The legend comes from a French traveler to London, and is the only source for the history of gambling. However, the story stuck, and soon people all over Europe were making sandwiches the way they are. Montagu didn’t invent the food – it’s meat between bread, after all; people had probably been eating the dish for centuries – but he gave it a name and a cool story to go with it (whether he liked it or not!).
6. The first slot machine wasn't even in a casino
When mechanic Charles Fey invented the first slot machine in 1895, it wasn’t even in a casino, and it wasn’t even close to Las Vegas. Fey’s Liberty Bell machine was actually in his San Francisco auto shop so customers could play while they waited for their cars to be repaired. It became so popular that casinos started buying them to keep players occupied while table games were busy.
7. Citizens of Monaco cannot play in their casino
Monaco’s infamous Monte Carlo Casino is a gambler’s paradise… unless you’re actually from Monaco. In that case, you’re best off going elsewhere: Princess Caroline banned citizens from gambling at the casino in the mid-1800s, insisting that revenue came only from foreigners. The good news? Citizens don’t have to pay income tax, since Monaco uses the casino’s money instead.
8. Nevada State Prison Provides Casino for Inmates
Gambling is such a huge industry in Nevada that even the state prison had one for 35 years. So: Inmates could play blackjack, craps, poker, and even bet on sports inside the Bullpen, a stone building on the grounds of the Carson City prison from 1932 to 1967. A new California warden closed it, saying gambling was “degrading” for inmates.
9. The first casino license in Las Vegas was issued to a woman
The Las Vegas casino industry was not only pioneered by male gangsters: the first legal casino license was issued to a woman named Mayme Stocker in 1920 for the Northern Club. Stocker was a respectable wife and mother who was often featured in local newspapers. She opened the casino under her own name (her husband Harold did not want to be associated with it at first) and offered the only five games legal in Las Vegas at the time: stud poker, draw poker, lowball poker, 500, and bridge.
10. American Roulette is harder to win than its European counterpart.
Roulette fans will have a slightly tougher time winning in America. Originally a French game, Americans tweaked the formula to accommodate 38 instead of 37 possible landing spots for the ball (adding a “00” as well as a “house 0 pocket” to the wheel). It was tougher before: In 1866, a version of the game featuring the American eagle symbol added another way for the house to win it all.
11. "Bones" came from "Crabs"
Why is the popular North American gambling game Craps called Craps? It’s a simple equation: language + time. Historians think it all started with an old British dice game, the name of which translated meant “danger.” In that game, the rolling “snake eyes” were called “crabs” (for some reason). French settlers in New Orleans in the mid-1700s played the game, but over time, a combination of French and English-speaking players and changes in the rules of the game slowly turned “crabs” into “craps” and a whole new game was born, eventually leaving Danger as nothing more than a distant memory.
12. The smallest casino in the world is located in the back of a London taxi
The supposed “smallest casino in the world” doesn’t even have an address. The Grosvenor Casino in London is a mobile casino in the back of a taxi cab. It has a gaming table, a dealer, a bar, and a TV with a sports channel. The advertising gimmick allows it to travel anywhere in the city, so players can go straight to the casino anywhere in the city.
13. Penny slot machines make more money for casinos than any other gambling game
Don't let the name fool you: so-called "penny machines" or "penny slots" are actually the most profitable games in the casino industry. Casino owners say the early 2000s recession is to thank for the growing popularity of the machines, which allow players to wager only pennies (but most are bigger). Some casinos have more slot machines than any other denomination: penny slots, for example, accounted for 70% of the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel's slot machines in 2013.
14. No, casinos don't pump oxygen into the gaming room.
There are a lot of myths, legends, stories about the tricks and tricks that are used by players and casino owners to use the system to their advantage. One of these myths is the idea that casinos pump oxygen to the gaming floor so that players continue to gamble and do not want to leave.
This is not true: in addition to being a crime, it is also against fire safety. Where does the myth come from? In Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather" "Fools Die" there is a fictional casino "Xanadu" that uses oxygen injection, perhaps viewers believe this is a common practice.
15. World War II veteran wins over $25 million playing slot machines
Most people think that big money can only be won at casino table games, but there are rare exceptions where slot machines offer the opportunity to win more money than at the table. In Las Vegas, World War II veteran Elmer Sherman won a shocking $4.6 million playing a slot machine at the Mirage Casino in 1989, but he wasn’t content to stop there. Elmer gambled his “lifetime dream” to win another big jackpot. His dream came true in 2005 when he won a whopping $$21.1 million playing the machines!
16. The Japanese, who have banned casinos, have found a loophole
The Japanese have come up with a loophole to keep playing. While casinos are banned in the country, they have created parlors with machines that dispense silver balls. This “currency” can be exchanged for alcohol, toys and other prizes. There is also a separate prize – tokens. They can be exchanged in special shops that are regulated by the state. for cash. This allows players to earn money in a country that formally prohibits gambling.
17. Fruit gum saved slot machines
Ever wonder why slot machines use pictures of fruit? That's because in the early 1880s, when gambling was banned, slot machine owners made chewing gum the prize. It was also illegal to use suits, so they replaced them with fruit flavored gum. When the ban was lifted, slot machine owners never changed anything. They just kept the fruit pictures, and instead of gum, the machines started giving out cash.
18. Some gamers relieve themselves right at the gaming area
Some gamblers take gambling too seriously, and their obsession leads to strange things. Addiction specialists report that some gamblers are so addicted that they urinate on themselves or wear adult diapers to avoid distractions from the game. For example, in Indiana in 2007, a gambler filed a complaint with the state gaming commission after he sat in a chair near a slot machine that someone had urinated in. And in 2015, a New Jersey man peed in a slot machine’s coin slot,
19. America's first interracial casino opened in 1955.
The United States in the 1950s, and Las Vegas in particular, was a horribly racist place. How was it? At one hotel, legendary black singer Sammy Davis Jr. broke the rules and swam in the pool, so management drained the pool. In another case, black singer Lorna Doone was allowed to stay overnight at the hotel, but the next morning the sheets and towels she used were burned.
So when the Moulin Rouge, a casino and hotel for all races, opened on May 24, 1955, in a predominantly black part of town, it was historic. Tenants were booked up for a month straight. Unfortunately, the white owners mysteriously closed after only four and a half months, but the Moulin Rouge was a surprisingly peaceful and profitable establishment.
20. Las Vegas is not the gambling capital of the world
Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal. It is also the world's largest gambling city. Macau's casino revenue in 2012 was five times greater than Vegas. Unlike Vegas, which makes most of its money from slot machines, most of the money made in Macau (75 percent!) comes from high stakes at VIP gaming tables.
21. The numbers on the roulette wheel add up to the "number of the beast"
Gambling and superstition go hand in hand, so it is not surprising that some mystical properties have been attributed to some popular gambling games. The biblical "number of the beast" is found in roulette: if you add up all the numbers on the wheel, you get 666! That is why it is called the "devil's wheel".
22. Dealers must show their hands to the cameras before leaving the table.
If you have ever seen a strange ritual in a casino, don't be surprised. Everyone is closely watched 24/7 by video cameras built into the ceiling. It's called "clean hands": hands are shown on camera to ensure that no attempt is being made to hide or steal chips or cards. Casino owners have also set this rule for certain actions, before which you must show the "clean hands" gesture. So, this ritual must be performed:
- Touching the guest's bets;
- Before handing over anything to a guest or casino staff;
- Accidentally touching someone's hand;
- When approaching or leaving the table;
- Before and after the exchange operation;
- Picking something up from the floor;
- In situations that pose a security risk. Never give or take anything directly from the hands of guests and casino staff. All transactions must be carried out through the gaming table;
- Adjusting your hair or something in your clothes;
Casino is a separate empire, with its own rules and laws, although in many countries it is already illegal. But even there there were loopholes and a way out of the situation, since man is by nature gambling and thirsts for the game. The main thing is to remain human and not give yourself entirely to this process.
