Some Fun And Interesting Facts About Casino And Online Gambling

Most online gambling enthusiasts aren’t only in the fray to make truck loads of money. It’s pretty sure that Bugsy Siegel too wasn’t always serious and did have plenty of fun at the tables or at the reels. So if you are one of those who would like to look at the lighter side of gambling without having to lighten your pocket then read on.

Super Big Bertha

Let’s begin with Super Big Bertha.

By now images of a full figured lady with a large stick in hand waiting to clobber the hubby must have crossed your mind.

But no, this is the world’s largest slot machine we are talking about. This 8-reel pokie was built back in the 1950s and cost a cool $150K.

As compared to later versions this one was 2 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall. The odds of striking the jackpot was a staggering 1:25 billion. That’s almost just one person in the whole of China today.

Cigar Jackpot

Speaking of slots and jackpots, what’s interesting is that the first slot machine built in 1891 was based off poker hands. Players could wager a nickel and get the five reels with 50 card faces spinning by means of a lever. The payouts for a royal flush were not the thousands or millions of Euros we know of today but based on the whims of the bar that owned it. This could include cigars, free beers or other freebies.

No prizes for guessing that Bugsy would have chosen cigars.

Vegas slots

Statistics indicate that as many as 68% of Las Vegas gamblers spend their moolah on slot machines, and of course, sometimes win a fortune too. A 25 year old engineer managed to crack the odds of 16.7 million to one on the Megabucks slot and take home a tidy sum of $39,710,826.36.

IGT

No entry for Monaco citizens to gaming rooms

This one will definitely catch many by surprise. But yes, the local casinos in the principality do not permit citizens of Monaco to enter their gaming room. This rule has been in existence since 1856 and was put into practice during the reign of Charles III. The idea was to prevent them from getting into serious debt.

However, they were allowed to work at a casino. Online betting doesn’t have such rules now and thank god for that expect for the fact that some casinos restrict certain jurisdictions due to gambling laws prevalent in that country. Otherwise, it’s as easy as apple to sign up for a casino account with just a few clicks.

Aristotle proved a point playing craps

Aristotle always tried to prove a point, be it physics, ethics, biology, metaphysics, logic, and even playing craps too. He supposedly wrote a detailed guide on the probabilities in dice, which would have definitely helped him play craps to perfection, without cheating of course.

Craps at the Las Vegas Desert Inn

In 1950 a happy go lucky sailor managed to hit 27 straight wins with the dice while playing craps.

The odds of achieving this are over 12 million to one. He could have raked in a lofty $268 million if be bet the house limit on each roll.

However, what he did rake in was $750. That’s still a tidy sum considering it was the 1950s.

The dice used are still on display at the Las Vegas Desert Inn.

Roulette wasn’t intended to be a casino game

This will also raise a few eyebrows as well. When Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, is said to have invented roulette his intention not exactly what we perceive roulette as today but was to build a machine that would remain in perpetual motion. Let’s toast to that one. Now we’ve got French, American, European and even Royal Roulette to play.

The devilish side of roulette

The 19th century was when gambling really took off and Monte Carlo became the center of attraction, courtesy the Blanc Brothers. If rumors can be believed then some say that Francois Blanc’s success can be attributed to the fact that he sold his soul to the devil in a sort of barter arrangement to learn the secrets of roulette. Then again, roulette is also termed as ‘The Devil’s Game’ because the numbers add up to 666. Ever wondered why 46% of people who play online roulette are female?

Largest online slot jackpot payout

If you pit land-based vs. online slots it terms of jackpot payouts, the online version beats the former hollow.

The largest payout so far is $20,062,600 which is credited to Jon Heywood of the UK.

This win came while spinning the reels in Microgaming’s Mega Moolah on October 6, 2015.

First WSOP Winner

The first World Series of Poker was hosted in 1970 and consisted of a series of cash games that included Texas Hold’em, Razz and Seven Card Stud, to name a few. Johnny Moss was declared the champion not the usual way of being at the top of the leaderboard with the most cash won but by a vote held by all the players. His reward was a silver cup and not a gold bracelet that we see today.

Adrian Sterne

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