American Casino history

In US, the history of casinos has been quite long and interesting. From old fashioned small card rooms to glitzy and glamorous and famous world casinos on the Las Vegas strip, casinos have come a long way. In the initial days, the casinos in US were called saloons. These were the traditional casinos which were quite small in size and they first started in cities like San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis and in New Orleans.

All of these cities were quite important centers of trade and commerce, which is why they managed to attract quite a lot of people from different parts of the world. Originally, saloons were the main places where the men in these cities used to meet after a day of work and gamble and drink with their friends.

These old fashioned saloons were by no means glamorous or large like they are now. In fact, they were quite small and often operated in small dingy rooms anywhere in these cities. Later on, over the years the saloons developed and became one of the most popular places in the city where they operated and soon they expanded in size. These saloons were often run by just one person who would be the owner and also responsible for the management of the place.

US casinos development

The first saloon that ever operated in the US had been established on the border of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah in 1822. The saloon had been named Brown’s Saloon. The saloons were usually frequented by miners who came to work in the local mines so the old fashioned casinos were always located close to a mine or in any city where miners could be found in large numbers.

Later on, in the beginning of 20th century gambling had been declared as illegal due to various different social and legal reasons. The people of the country at that time had been quite vehemently against gambling and casinos. Later on, in 1931 it had been legalized again in Nevada. It was then that Las Vegas emerged as the casino capital of the country and the first ever modern day casinos were set up in the city.

In Atlantic City, gambling had been made legal only in 1978 and today it is the second most important casino city in the country. The glitz and glamour of casinos as we know of it today was first introduced in Las Vegas. Celebrities are often visiting world's best casinos in Vegas.

The casinos were also known for their association with organized crime and the Mafia in the 70s. These days, the casinos in Las Vegas are famous all over the world and attract millions of people from all over the world. Though online casinos have been introduced lately, the attraction of real casinos has not dimmed.