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Franzi | Games
Franzi | Games 
10 Casino facts you didn’t know yet
We’ve gathered ten interesting facts for you that you can use to impress your friends.
approx. 4 min.
10 Casino facts you didn’t know yet
Did you know?
Fact 1
The smallest casino in the world rolls through the streets of London. In a taxi, a croupier is seated in the trunk.
While passengers are stuck in the city’s traffic, they can play Blackjack for charitable causes.
Fact 2
Without gambling, the sandwich wouldn’t exist! The inventor, the Brit John Montagu, created the handy snack so that he could satisfy his hunger even during his gaming sessions.
John Montagu was a British nobleman and the 4th Earl of Sandwich. The title of nobility was named after the town of Sandwich in England and thus became the namesake of the dish.
Fact 3
Girl power in Las Vegas: In 1920, the first licensed casino near the glittering city was opened — by a woman! Mayme Stocker was the first person to establish the first legal, licensed casino in the Las Vegas area.
At that time, only five games were legal in Nevada, and all of them were offered in Stocker’s live casino. These were: Stud Poker, Draw Poker, Lowball Poker, 500, and Bridge.
Fact 4
“The Devil’s Game”: That’s the colloquial name for roulette. The game owes this name to the simple addition of the numbers from 1 to 36.
The result is the devilish number 666. For this reason, it used to be said that you had “beaten the devil” when you hit exactly the right number.
Fact 5
A German invented slot machines. The rise of the “one-armed bandits” began at the end of the 19th century in the USA, when Charley Fey had the idea to develop a mechanical slot machine.
The inventor, born in Bavaria and working as a mechanic in San Francisco at the time, built the “Card Bell,” the world’s first slot machine with three reels and automatic payout. Later that same year, he modified it and created a new version with more game symbols, the so-called “Liberty Bell.”
Fact 6
“All-in” instead of “All-Out”: From 1932 to 1967, an American prison operated a real casino behind bars. For 35 years, inmates at the Nevada State Prison had the opportunity to play poker, blackjack, and other casino games.
It is even reported that the guards themselves occasionally placed a bet or two.
Fact 7
The word “poker” comes from German and is derived from “pochen.” In the past, it was also translated as “to bluff” or “to pretend.”
Other theories suggest that the name is related to the English word “poke,” which was slang used in America’s underworld by pickpockets. Card cheats played a game with 20 cards, aiming to take money off the other players.
Fact 8
The word “casino” comes from the Italian word “casa,” meaning “small house” or “country house.”
Fact 9
In 1913, at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, the roulette ball landed on black 26 times in a row.
After about the 15th or 16th time, the situation reportedly became almost chaotic. More and more newcomers started betting on red, believing that this streak had to end at some point.
Fact 10
The Las Vegas Strip is the brightest place on Earth when viewed from space.
It is home to the historic hotels, which, together with the world’s most famous casinos and their concentrated glow of lights, have earned a legendary reputation.
