From ancient times, people always liked Art and to Gamble. These were the most popular pastimes. Since ancient times, not that much has changed. People are still very fond of art and are very much into gambling and playing games. The things that have changed though are the intensity and the scale of these two.

Art is a non-stoppable process, which is constantly growing, changing, and evolving. Through times and different eras, art went through different changes, good and bad times, from prosperity to decline, but it never stopped existing. The art itself helps us to understand the different periods in human history. It’s no secret that one of the best ways to understand how people lived, thought, what they were driven by, and what they have been lusted for and had hungered is through the art of the substantial period. Nowadays, we usually divide art into seven classical forms. All these forms affect us differently – some work with our visual perceptions, and some are touching our souls through sound or emotions. These seven forms of art are:

• Theater;
• Literature;
• Painting;
• Music;
• Cinema;
• Sculpture;
• Architecture.

As you can see, the world of art is endless. Nowadays, we don’t have to go to the art gallery to experience art because it’s enough to go outside and look around. The music is played in the streets by musicians or through speakers, the sculptures are placed in the parks and churches, the films can be watched under the skies etc.

The art of casinos

And while art is constant, fluent and never absent in our lives, the situation with the gambling world is different. Gambling has been changing since the beginning of its existence. While the ancient people gambled with animal bones and stones, today’s gamblers are making money on their smartphones. Gambling has gone through different times and periods: it was the entertainment of common people, criminals, and nobility, it was forbidden in different countries and empires at different times, punished by law, then it was allowed and even encouraged, different gambling games were played at king’s palaces (like cards, dice, horse and dog racing).

But as gambling started to progress and evolve, it was also mixed with art. To play gambling games together, people needed a special place, and that’s how casinos come into the picture. The oldest casino in the world, the Casino di Venezia, sits on the Grand Canal in Venice and was opened back in 1638. This Renaissance palace was initially built in the 15th century by Italian architect Mauro Codussi. The next in the line would be the Casino de Spa in Belgium which was built in 1763, destroyed in the First World War and completely renovated in the 1980s. We also have a Kurhaus Casino of Baden-Baden in Germany, designed in the mid-1820s. Casino de Monte Carlo in Monaco opened in 1856 when Princess Caroline of the House Grimaldi allegedly came up with the idea for the state to avoid going bankrupt. The Golden Gate Casino in Las Vegas opened in 1906 and is still operational. All these casinos were built in the form of palaces, with beautiful architecture, rich furniture, soft and velvet fabrics, sculptures, the famous painting of famous artists, gold and bronze, magnificent and luminous.

The Las Vegas era became a whole new step in the world of casinos and gambling. It was not only a platform for playing games and making money it was a platform for the world’s most famous artists to perform, like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Cher and many others.

Modern online casinos and art

The 21st century brought us a new world of online and virtual reality. Today, we don’t have to physically be somewhere to watch art or gamble. All we have to do is to connect to the internet. We can “travel” through time and countries in seconds, visit museums, and art galleries, watch live performances and movies, live streams of sports games and horse racing, and bet money in casinos without leaving our apartments. Art and casinos became forever intertwined. You can buy different paintings and posters dedicated to casinos and the world of gambling. Online casinos are using art to make their websites stand out and become more recognizable. The industry of filmmaking is using casinos in hundreds of most famous movies of all time, like California Split, The Cincinnati Kid, Rounders, The Sting with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, Martin Scorsese’s Casino with Robert De Niro, Ocean’s Eleven, James Bond Casino Royale and many others. Famous game providers are using art in creating new and exciting games for online casinos, for example using Marvel’s and DC’s Universe.

So as you can see, the gambling world is very much full of art, and the art itself can become gambling. Isn’t buying a piece of art at the auction a gambling process? You’re making your bet, and you’re trying to beat your rivals, sometimes someone is bluffing, and you have to know how to read a face to win and buy something your heart desires.