The World's Oldest Casino Games

Today we are lucky enough to enjoy thousands of exciting casino games in land-based casinos and casino sites - and even on your mobile phone.

But have you ever stopped for a minute to wonder where the idea for betting on the roll of a dice, turn of a card or a spin of a wheel originated?

With new casino variations launched all the time, it’s hard to imagine that the origins of some casino games can date back thousands of years. Rooted in various cultures and ancient civilisations around the world, gambling has evolved into an extremely popular form of modern-day entertainment.

Let’s delve into some of the world’s oldest casino games and explore how their origins have helped shape the gambling industry as we know it today.

Roulette 

There are three theories as to the origins of this game:

• The Tibetan people of East Asia
• A Dominican monk and a French physicist
• Mathematician Blaise Pascal

The word ‘roulette’ actually means ‘small wheel’ in French, so we are leaning more towards the last theory. Blaise Pascal was actually attempting to create a perpetual motion machine, which through its failure, lay the foundations for what was to become the roulette wheel.

 Now one of the most popular online casino games, roulette has shaken off its ‘James Bond in Monte Carlo’ image with a number of enhanced odds and game show variations.

Check out Red Door Roulette, Quantum Roulette and the craziest variation of them all, Xxxtreme Lightning, which can pay out up to 2,000x your bet.

Blackjack 

The first recorded reference to ‘Veintiuno’ (Spanish for 21) was in the early 1600s by a Spanish gambler called Miguel de Carvantes.

Making its way over to Britain around 1770, Veintiuno later became known as Blackjack when gambling houses offered enhanced payouts of 10-1 if a player received the ace of spades with the jack of clubs in their hand.

While the classic game of blackjack is still hugely popular, you can find plenty of exciting variations at the best casinos, including Single Deck Blackjack, Free Bet Blackjack and First Person Blackjack.

Baccarat 

Rumoured to have originated in 15th century Italy, Baccarat is another sophisticated casino card game that was glamourised by James Bond - in this instance, by the original 1967 release of Casino Royale.

At first, Baccarat was a high stakes game enjoyed by the French aristocracy, but has today become one of the most popular games across Asia - often played with astronomical stakes that would dwarf the French effort by comparison.

Traditional Baccarat offered just three betting options:

• On the Bank
• On the Player
• Tie

Players bet on which side will achieve a total closer to nine. Picture cards and 10s count as zero, and card totals over 10 only use the single digit. As an example, a hand that contains a six and a 7 comes to a total of three, rather than 13.

Initially, two cards are drawn to each of the Bank and the Player. The drawing rules (tableaux) determine whether an additional card will be dealt to either side.

Dice

Also commonly known as Craps, dice is considered the most social (and superstitious) game on our list.

With the first dice estimated to have originated as far back as 6000 BC, it is thought that the game of ‘Krabs’ evolved from the English dice game of Hazard around 1788. It’s widely recognised that Hazard found its way to New Orleans where it was enjoyed between wealthy landowners in the early 1800s, although more recent research suggests it could have been significantly earlier.

Despite captivating millions of players across US casinos, there are unfortunately very few dice tables left in land-based casinos in New Zealand. You can find both live dealer and First Person Craps at some of the best online casinos.

Keno 

Legend has it that Keno helped fund the building of the Great Wall of China. While this might be a myth, there’s no denying that Keno is one of the oldest games around.

Originating in ancient China, it featured characters rather than numbers and became a way to entertain and fundraise simultaneously.

By the 19th century, Chinese immigrants introduced the game to the West, where it evolved into the numbered format we see in casinos today. Hugely popular around the world - and not just the US - Australian Keno jackpots can create bumper paydays of up to $10m.

Pai Gow

Originally played by 19th century Chinese folk using a set of 32 dominoes, Pai Gow can now be found in many casinos around the world, including Las Vegas, London, Canada and New Zealand.

After shuffling the tiles face down and arranging into eight stacks of four tiles each, players must create two hands of two tiles - the front and the rear hand. Both of the player's hands must beat the dealer’s front and rear hands to win the bet, otherwise the game round is considered a push (or a tie).

Pai Gow Poker makes use of standard playing cards and is a direct derivative of tiled Pai Gow. Using similar mechanics, players receive seven cards to create a five-card and a two-card hand, which will compete against the dealer’s hands.

Sic Bo

Hugely popular in Macau casinos, Sic Bo is another dice game of chance that originated in China. Played with three dice, it is widely considered to be responsible for the English game of Grand Hazard, and ultimately the two-dice game of Craps.

It was introduced into the US in the early 1900s and although played privately around the world for many years, it only became legal to play in casinos in 2002.

Aside from the two and three dice used, the main difference between Craps and Sic Bo is that every roll of the dice generates a win or loss in Sic Bo. Whereas in Craps, there can be neutral outcomes with no winners or losers.

Evolution Gaming have created Super Sic Bo and Lightning Sic Bo, the latter of which follows their extremely popular enhanced odds offering up to 2,000x payouts with their lightning multipliers.

Pokie Machines 

When you browse the lobby of any online casino offering thousands of the best pokies to play, pause for a moment to think of Charles Fey, who is responsible for the creation of the very first pokie machine, The Liberty Bell, in 1895.

While this is widely recognised as the first pokie machine, it actually took inspiration from a poker gambling machine created by Sittman and Pitt some eight years earlier. Their machine consisted of five drums and 50 card faces, with winning prizes paid out by the bar or gambling hall that the machine was placed in. These prizes often consisted of free beer or cigars.

The Liberty Bell was the first fully automated pokie machine that paid out real cash prizes from the machine, with that ‘chink, chink, chink’ sound replicated by digital pokies since in an effort to capture the nostalgia and excitement of a pokie win.

Nevertheless, Fey’s creation of a three-reel pokie machine containing just five symbols lay the foundations for pretty much every pokie game you will find today.