Many of you in the US have surely travelled to gamble, or included gambling among the “must do” lists for a holiday. But gambling is not the only reason why you visit a casino – sometimes it’s to see its architectural beauty, or maybe to soak up some of its history.
In Europe, at least, most of the gambling is happening in online casinos like the Swedish Royal Vegas. People don’t need to leave their home to play their favorite games – all they need to do is click with their mouse or tap on their touchscreen to do it. The internet delivers the grand special offers and the vast game libraries of the Royal Vegas right to their fingertips – and you should take this literally.
Royal Vegas has a game library that beats most land-based casinos. Its downloadable suite contains over 700 titles you can choose from. It also has a browser-based interface, which offers its players access to more than 350 games, not to mention its cross-platform mobile solution, with over 100 games to play when away from home. The Royal Vegas has some of the best specials I have ever seen. Among the greatest prizes it has offered this year – with more to come later – I feel I should mention the seven-day Caribbean cruise for two, won by 50 lucky players at the Royal Vegas, or the Bucket List, where players had the chance to win one of the five dream vacations put on the line by the casino.
The list below gives you a few tips on which casinos to see, even if you have no intention to buy any chips there.
1. Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas (USA)
One of the last casinos from the golden age of Las Vegas still standing, Caesars is famous for more than just its foods, games and shows. It was the scene for some of the greatest prizefights of history – it has heard the crowds cheering for Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler or Larry Holmes, and its walls may still preserve the voice prints of the famous Rat Pack – Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. A place filled with history, indeed, and a marvel of modern day leisure and entertainment as well – today it has six towers with 3,960 rooms, a 300,000 square feet convention facility, and a 4,296 seat entertainment venue built in 2003.
2. The Monte Carlo Casino (Monaco)
Based on the design of the French architect Gobineau de la Bretonnerie, the Monte Carlo Casino was finalized in 1863. It was transformed and expanded in 1878-79, based on designs of Charles Garnier, the architect behind the famous Paris opera house today known as Palais Garnier. The memory of the architect is kept alive by the concert hall of the building, today called Salle Garnier. The building was re-modeled again a decade later, getting its current form.
The Monte Carlo Casino are famous not just for being one of the oldest and most beautiful gambling houses in Europe, but also for being featured in several James Bond films, like Never Say Never Again and GoldenEye, and the building was used as a model by Ian Fleming for the description of “Royale-Les-Eaux” in Casino Royale.
3. The Venetian Macao (Macau, China)
Other casinos may have a long history or be jewels of architecture, but when it comes to grandeur, none can compete with the Venetian Macao. Built on a budget of $2.4 billion, the Venetian Macao is the seventh largest building of the world by floor area, and the largest single structure hotel in Asia. Modeled after its sister casino in Las Vegas, the Venetian Macao is the largest casino of the world, with a 10.5 million square foot area, out of which 1.2 million square foot are dedicated to suites, 1.6 million to retail, and 550,000 to casino space, not to mention its 15,000 place CotaiArena for entertainment events.
