Casinos Throughout the Ages

Casino gaming has been a popular past time for as long as people have understood the concept of gambling.  While early casinos might not have been much more than a cave, some sticks and some rocks, the basic concept of gambling hasn't changed much through the millennia.  One person wagers something in an attempt to win something, and another person fulfills the wager on the other side.

Even with the advent of the Internet, casino gambling hasn't changed that much.  Yes, the graphics are flashier and there's a much wider game selection –  online casinos aren't burdened by that pesky floor space limitation that forces the casinos in Vegas –  no matter their size –  to choose some games to the exclusion of others.  Yes, the speed of the games is quite a bit quicker when digitized.

Underneath all of that, however, do we really find a substantive difference between the games of today and the games of yore?  Would a modern casino be unrecognizable to a gambler from the middle ages?  In some ways yes, and in some ways no.  The dice, the chips and the cards would all be at least somewhat familiar to our time traveler, and he would no doubt appreciate the cocktail waitresses as well.  The slot machines would no doubt seem to be powered by magic, and the concept of electricity as a whole might also take some explaining, but all of that is more surface than substance.

He would no doubt come to see that the core of the games hasn't changed much at all.  Gamblers from all ages appreciate the concept of a wager, of chance, of fortune, and despite the modern trappings that cloak the games we play, those concepts –  and the house advantage –  are things that have not changed a lick through the years.