Facts About Casinos And Gambling

Whilst not a conventional form of gaming, casinos and slots can still be exciting even if they aren’t featured on the Nintendo. If you want to learn a but more about gambling then read on!

There have always been lots of usually colourful stories regarding casinos. Some of these might be true, while others are equal parts fact and fiction. Here are some top casino facts that bear telling:

The Express Betting Story

Now, FedEx is an iconic courier delivery company with its headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee and with over 400,000 employees on its payroll. Back in the days, the company founder by the name of Frederick Smith was forced to gamble to assure the continued existence of his company. So, this guy was seriously broke and had just $5,000 to take care of his company. Rather than sell off himself or start digging for diamonds in his backyard he opted to gamble all his current funds in Vegas. This was way back in 1973 and luckily for him, he won the gamble and speedily invested the wins -$27,000- into his ailing company. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sandwich Comes To Play

John Montagu was the 4th Earl of Sandwich and an inveterate gambler. He is remembered only for inventing the sandwich. According to the popular story, he became famished after a 24-hour gambling session and consequently instructed his cook to prepare some food that would not, however, result in his soiling his cards with greasy oil. The cook was clever enough to place sliced meat into a couple of pieces of toast, with this enabling the Earl to use one hand to eat and the other to play his game.

Count The Cards, Lad

In games like blackjack card counting is actually legal. Still, should you be caught card counting in a casino, the odds are very high that you will be speedily thrown out and possibly asked not to come back. More, to discourage card counters, casinos have implemented some new rules and now shuffle the cards much more frequently than was formerly the case.

Ban Me Though

In some US states, problem gamblers can if all else fails visit website and opt to ban themselves from some casinos. Should they enter the said casino(s) during the ban period, they will have committed a crime and be subject to penalties. The ban period varies according to preference and can be for a couple of months or for life.

Slots For Fun

The first slot machines were invented in 1895 by a man called Charles Fey, a mechanic. Fey actually built the machine as a means of entertaining his clients while they waited till the repair of their automobiles was completed. The machine was surprisingly popular and as a result, lots of casinos of the period bought it so that their players could keep themselves busy when there was no vacancy at the table games.

Nevadans Love To Gamble

The folks over at the US state of Nevada assuredly love to gamble. Indeed, gambling was so popular then that from 1932 to 1967 the Nevada state prison featured a casino where the inmates could play all sorts of games. In 1967 this casino was shut down on the orders of a new warden who felt that gambling was too sinful.

The Oddity Of American Roulette

The 18th century marked the emergence of the game of roulette. Soon after, it made its way to Europe and hence to the US. When compared to other roulette versions, American roulette exhibits marked differences and is harder to win at due to the presence of an extra pocket.

Women Rules

While males formed a very large percentage of the casino gambling pioneers in Vegas, in actual fact the very first casino license was issued not to a man but to a lady by the named of Mayme Stocker. This was in 1920, and her casino featured the 5 games that were then legal during that era- bridge, lowball poker, stud poker, draw poker and 500.

Macau Leads

For most of the last century, it was undisputed that Las Vegas was by far the gambling capital of the world. This as of 2012 is no longer true, with Macau taking on this role. Its yearly gambling revenues are currently many times that of Vegas and there are possibly more high rollers there than the rest of the world combined!