The oldest casino games today

Roulette, Craps, Keno, Poker - many casino table games are older than the idea of a casino itself! But just how old are they - or rather, what are the games they were based on? When did card games such as Blackjack appear? How old is the idea of an "ace" exactly? How did we move from concepts such as lottery to slots? How exactly did craps become so popular in the Americas? Why are there so many variants of Poker, and why did Texas Hold'em become the most popular one? How exactly did Keno make it into US casinos? Join us on this first exploration regarding casino games, gambling, the history of them and their associated culture below.

The oldest casino games and their origins

At their core, almost all classic casino games are games of chance using balls, cards or dice to determine outcomes of rounds. Almost every time these game instruments are technological advancements of simpler trinkets used in ancient times. The concept of dice, for example, goes back to the custom of using small animal bones as multi-sided surfaces to carve markers into. Throw these bones, read the carvings accordingly and your game can run along. Sounds primitive, but a look at craps with its pass line bets, or the ancient game of Ur already requiring come-out rolls of fitting value provide ample example of how something simple like dice shape so many different games. Similar concepts led to the rise of small wooden sticks or even polished bits of amber, gypsum, soapstone or other minerals as both betting and turn markers for various games. The idea of generating random numbers with the help of dice is thus older than recorded history itself. Take one of the oldest board games we managed to unearth, the royal game of Ur. A strategic board game simulating a race of some sort using dice, tokens and even polished stones as wagers. The earliest reference to this game we found so far point to ancient Mesopotamia. Being played in the 3rd millennium BC (!), it found its way to far East Asia before its decline - or should we say, further development into backgammon perhaps? Almost all modern day board games - and some casino table games - can trace their baseline mechanics back to this one. And the core elements were certainly already there; dice, players, pass lines, betting, possible payouts, the works. Fascinating, isn't it?

Roulette - the ultimate casino classic

Ever seen a casino without a roulette table? Us neither. We've already covered the faceted and entertaining history of roulette at another time, but we shall go over the most important milestones of this magnificent game here as well. If you are interested in how to play this game, be it in online casinos or in Las Vegas for example, then we got some excellent primers about roulette strategy for you as well.

The idea of spinning a surface marked into segments to designate prizes is certainly nothing new. We have records from ancient Greek soldiers painting parts of their shields in different hues and using them as gigantic spinning tops. A broken arrowhead or a pointy stone laid next to it would suffice as a marker, and betting could commence! A spin of the shield later and the shield's owner - an ancient precursor to a modern dealer perhaps - would soon be blamed by many for his poor technique no doubt. The custom of using shields or chariot wheels for betting could also be found in ancient Rome and was often tolerated by veteran commanders even during times where gambling was officially prohibited. Troop morale was a rare resource after all. Despite these findings, however, we cannot simply blame it on the ancient Greeks or Romans. Without a doubt the art of spinning things and betting on the outcome is older than recorded history itself.

Moving on, it was perhaps Pascal's work on a perpetual motion machine and the publication of his findings that led to the modern version of Roulette being refined and iterated upon. Around the same time, so in the 17th century, the idea of a spinning wheel was then adapted into a game of "even-odd", where different segments of a wheel would denote even or odd numbers and players would bet on the outcome of each spin. This idea might be borrowed from an Italian game called Biribi. Roulette was born and made its way to Britain as a table game around 1720. With smashing success we presume, as it was already banned by 1739.

It was the introduction of stricter gambling laws in the 18th century that led to the formation of Monaco as a casino and gambling resort we now know. Since both Britain and France saw themselves confronted with more and more uncontrollable gambling and thus sought to completely ban it, Prince Charles of Monaco rose to the occasion by opening several venues for playing roulette and dice and card games on his territory. The resulting influx of nobles and aristocrats led to Monaco becoming the hot spot for players of all kinds - and the roulette wheel to become synonymous with high-class entertainment. Interestingly enough bets and payout ratios, table layout and numbers were pretty much the same as they are today!

Leave it, then, to brothers Francois and Louis Blanc to refine this version and re-introduce it to the continent once more during the 19th century as what is now known as European Roulette (no 00-pocket). Bringing this game to Germany with reduced house edge caused a sharp rise in popularity among common folk which led to, perhaps ironically, Charles III of Monaco asking them to bring their version back to Monaco a bit over 100 years after his ancestor had made Monaco into what it is today. Nowadays pretty much any online gambling platform worth their salt offers several roulette tables or live roulette games, and almost all of them are based on the Blanc-version of the game. 

Craps - the ultimate casino dice game

Craps, at its core, is a dice game allowing players to bet on the outcome of individual rolls. This principle might just be the oldest game ever known, but to stay within the scope of this article we shall shed light on the origins of "modern" craps only.

Craps used to be called "Krabs" in Britain, which was an adaptation of the French dice game "Hasard". Now, we aren't exactly sure where that one came from, but some very erudite scholars assure us the origins of that dice game can be traced back to the time of the crusades. Meaning that anyone throwing dice in Las Vegas is playing craps based on the pastime of crusaders in a way! Moving on, Hasard itself was brought to New Orleans via the offspring of a rich family, sources suggest the name "craps" being a sloppy pronunciation of the term "crabs", which was vernacular for both twos and threes on the dice themselves, equaling an instant loss no matter of the shooter's intended number.

Craps became hugely popular in post the post world-war Americas and is now also growing in popularity in Asian casino resorts. Nowadays craps is played on special tables using printed felt surfaces to track both possible bets and their payouts as well as possible winning dice combinations. Craps is generally played against the "bank" (read: casino), signified by a dealer present at the table who keeps track of bankroll, ongoing bets and payouts. Depending on the casino in question, additional boxmen may assist the main dealer in keeping track of the many bets made, as well as exchanging chips when possible to always keep a supply of chips ready at the table. Craps may appear very frantic whenever all player slots are being taken, and despite craps being usually depicted as a rowdy game with lots of yelling and outrageous behaviour, we would recommend treating the dealer and anyone else at the craps table with respect. Bet variations at craps are as varied as they are for roulette, with the core decision for both shooter and other players (the shooter being the player whose turn it currently is) betting on "pass" or "don't pass". The former would mean the shooter rolled the numbers they themselves bet on, signified by their wager on the pass-line bet for example. Every round consists of two phases, with the shooter first making their "come-out roll", for which it's usually required to hit the far side of the pit wall with both dice. Any 2, ,3 or 12 is called craps, meaning anyone betting the pass line loses. After all other bets for this phase have been accounted for, the craps round moves onto phase 2, usually signified by the dealer pushing or flipping a button to the "On" position. Should the shooter hit their point value again, the pass line wins (the value does not have to be same as the come-out roll this time). Keep in mind that while the come-out roll is usually the shooter's first roll on his turn, in craps any roll without a specified value can be called a come-out roll. For more strategy and info about pass line bets, come-out roll and craps slang we suggest checking our blog in the near future for a primer on craps strategy!

In our opinion any fan of these classics owes it to themselves to play at least a few rounds at a craps table when visiting a land-based casino. Online gambling platforms, however, often forego offering craps modules of any kind and instead focus on a vast array of slot machines and casino table games.

Keno - the casino version of lottery

The origin story of Keno is as much legend as many other aspects of Chinese culture. Originally claimed to be a method of financing public defensive bulwarks, Keno earned legitimacy once the Portuguese government of Macao decided to grant licenses to lottery operators in the 19th century. It was Chinese immigrants who then brought the game over to the US, where the so-called "Keno" soon became a casino staple, especially in Texas.

The basics of Keno are the same everywhere it's being played. Players choose up to 20 numbers out of a pull of 80 and wait for either a machine to pick differently marked balls - similar to a lottery drawing on TV perhaps - or a random number generator to pick a series of numbers. Payouts may differ from venue to venue and we strongly recommend checking paytables first, especially in the case of online gambling platforms+.

Today Keno is being played in most Asian and US casinos and also made its foray into state-wide lottery systems all across the globe, from Australia to Finland!

Blackjack - the lone wolf's dream

Rarely has a card game inspired so many books, legends, movies and mathematical works as is the case with Blackjack. The king of card games is also one of the oldest casino games still being played. Derived from the English card game twenty-one, Blackjack had made its way onto US soil already by the early 19th century. Due to Blackjack's innate house edge, it is believed that card counting, power play or other attempts at manipulating the natural course of a Blackjack table must have been commonplace already. Making a living off of gambling and traveling from town to town were already a reality in countries like England, France and especially so in the newly formed United States after all.

The name Blackjack itself most likely derives from the time of the gold rush. Back then Blackjack was being played with special prizes for any hand containing an Ace or any 10-point card. Now, at the time of course any miner or gold digger would share vernacular and Sphalerite, also called Zincblende, was called Blackjack due to its colour under the sun and considered rare and immensely promising. The reason? It was commonly found along gold of course!

Today Blackjack is one of the most played casino card games on Earth. Mathematicians published papers on its mechanics and casinos have begun to completely arm themselves against Blackjack "pros". Nowadays trying to count cards or team up and set up an entire table for yourself and your crew will have you shut down and asked to leave fairly quickly. To play Blackjack is one thing, to be good at it is something else entirely. Luckily, modern online casinos have caught on and offer plenty of Blackjack modules and even live tables for players around the clock. Blackjack remains immensely popular among novice and veteran players due to its unique nature of playing versus a dealer instead of other players at the table.

As always, if reading this has inspired you to learn more about Blackjack feel free to head over to our article on the history of Blackjack.

Poker - the game where legends are made

Hardly any casino calling itself one that doesn't offer Poker tables for regular players or even high-rollers. Poker, as it is played today, first came to the United States in the late 18th century. Already the basics of dealing players 5 cards from a single deck were established, and gaming historians claim that based on this fact Poker's roots are without a doubt to be found in the Persian As-Nas, which would also explain where the term Ace stems from.

Poker games are as much a chance for driven individuals to make a name for themselves as they are an easy way to get to know people in a place you might be new to. Due to its fast spread in the US most modern variations are less than a hundred years old, with the most popular one being of course Texas Hold'em. With the advent of internet gambling, Poker became a major attraction around the late 90s and early 2000s and made online Poker one of the most played card games worldwide. Since then almost all full-fledged gaming platforms have adapted and offer live Poker tables around the clock.