The Most Interesting Facts About Casinos and Online Casinos

Whether you love heading out to a land-based casino for the real deal, or whether you want to try your luck online, casinos offer a unique experience. Gambling has been part of our culture for hundreds of years – and playing games for money is ingrained in human nature. It’s easier than ever before now that we can play online, on the mobile, wherever you are.

On this page, we’ll take some time out from playing and look at some of the most intriguing and coolest facts about online and land-based casinos…

The Term Casino Originates from Italy

Although many countries try to take credit for being the home of casinos, the term ‘casino’ actually originates from Italy. The root of the word ‘casa’, means house – and grew to cover a variety of establishments including social clubs.

Organised gambling has been dated back to 1638 in Venice – and although others will try to claim the original concept, it’s hard to argue that it’s an Italian job!

The Biggest Slot Machine Win to Date is US$39.7 Million

Lots of people like to simply go to the casino as a fun and social night out. Others are going there to try and win that life-changing sum of money. Many have achieved this, but the biggest win of them all is a staggering $39.7 million. It may come as no surprise that this was won back in 2003 in Las Vegas when a software engineer from LA bet $100 on the Megabucks slot machine at Excalibur Casino.

Megabucks by name and Megabucks by nature – this record has stood for almost 20 years.

The Biggest Online Slot Game Win in History is €17.8 Million

Although they don’t usually match brick-and-mortar casinos, there have been plenty of six and seven-figure wins at online casinos. The current online record stands at €17,861,800 and was set back in 2013.

The lucky player was Finnish and hit the jackpot of NetEnt’s biggest game, Mega Fortune. There have been plenty of massive wins since, but none that matches this one! The biggest win by an NZ player was AU$10,144,395 won on Games Global Mega Moolah. Find out all about jackpot games and how they work in our complete jackpot guide.

A Slot Machine Has to Pay Out a 70% Minimum RTP

The workings of a slot machine are completely random and a mystery to most players. However, they all come with an RTP – Return to Player. This is the amount of money they claim to pay out as a percentage of the money put into them. So, if a slot has a 95% RTP then for every $100,000 that is played on it, it pays out $95,000 in winnings (on average).

There has been a general ruling set by legislators, such as the UK Gambling Commission, that slot games should have a minimum RTP of 70%. Having said that, most online slot games are over 90% so they happily sit well above that. Read our guide on how slot games work to find out more.

The First Slot Games Were Developed in 1887

There is often a lot of discussion about the origin of certain table games – and it comes with many theories. We know for certain that the very first slot game was introduced in 1887. This was created by Charles Fell, who released the end result in 1891, and it was known as the Liberty Bell.

This may have been pretty basic in design, but it was certainly a groundbreaker and paved the way for the massive industry we see today.

A Poker Game Went On For Over 8 Years

Poker is considered to be a game of both luck and skill. But players also need stamina and patience to do well. These days, tournaments can last for hours, days, weeks and sometimes even longer. That’s a blink of an eye compared to the world’s longest poker game.

Back in Arizona, in 1881, played in the basement of a theatre, a poker game is believed to have gone on for 8 years, 5 months and 3 days. Apparently, it was played 24 hours a day with some sleep and ‘comfort’ breaks thrown in. There is no concrete evidence to support the actual length, but the marathon game did take place and apparently around US$10,000,000 changed hands in that time.

A Man Sold Everything and Risked it all on One Roulette Spin

This may sound hard to believe – and a little crazy. In 2004, there was a British TV series called ‘Double or Nothing’. the game included a professional gambler who wanted to sell everything he owned and risk it all on one single spin of the roulette wheel.

He managed to sell £135,300 worth of his possessions, finishing up with nothing more than the clothes he was wearing. He went to the Plaza Casino in Las Vegas and put it all on Red. In front of a live TV audience, he managed to come up trumps. The ball landed on the red number 7 and he doubled his money.

As you can see, the world of casinos can be crazy. There are some big winners and some big losers. Some people spend all their money – and others spend all their time on games, but one thing’s for certain, it’s never boring! Whether you want to try for jackpot records or try your poker skills, head over to our casino lobby and start making history yourself!

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