In 1020 A.D. King Olaf of Norway and King Olaf of Sweden met to decide on the ownership of an isolated district of Hising. They chose to resolve their dispute by means of rolling two dices. Thus even unknowingly, they decided to settle their difference by means of gambling.

Playing cards origin

There is really no clear answer when it comes to the origin of playing cards. The earliest verifiable information to playing cards in Europe can be traced back to the 13th century, although no one is certain where exactly do they originate and how did they manage to make their way outside Europe. The earliest playing card found was dated during the 11th century which comes from Chinese Turkestan. Many scholars believed that the Chinese were the ones who invented the playing cards for the same reason that they were the ones who also invented the paper. The four decked cards that we know today evolved in the Islamic world even before the 13th century and were brought to the civilized world by the Europeans. The French were the first to introduce the design of the cards that we are familiar with today together with spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts. The design of the cards was efficient enough for mass production. It took the cards nearly four centuries to finally become popular as England reluctantly picked up the card designs from the French and started producing the cards themselves. Later on, Americans started producing their own cards adding a lot to the decks as we know them today: double headed court cards, varnished backs, indexes, round corners and the infamous Joker. Playing cards were mostly used inside the casino.

Origin of Blackjack

Blackjack began around the beginning of the 18th century in France where it appeared in the form of a game called "vingt et un" or "twenty one". The name itself comes from the early version of the game in which the player received a payoff of 10 to 1 if he had a blackjack of spades and a (black) ace of spades.

Blackjack’s popularity reached the United States in the 19th century. In 1931, gambling became legal in Las Vegas and blackjack was one of the staples of the new casino scene.

During the 1950's and 1960's, books were published that used mathematical analysis (also known as counting cards) to teach players on how to improve their odds of beating the dealer. One of these books was Dr. Edward Thorp's "Beat the Dealer". It became a bestseller and blackjack became the most popular juegos de casino in the United States.

The game of blackjack lives on and prospers in almost every self-respecting traditional casino or virtual casino.

Origin of dice

The origin of dice that we know today can be found in ancient games of bone rolling. The dice has traceable history that goes back into the very roots of ancient humanity. They are arguably the oldest form of gambling known to humanity. Dice games were witnessed by Marco Polo. Genghis Khan, ancient Egyptian rulers and ancient Greeks were all known to resort to dice rolling as means of divination and entertainment. Originally a form of divination, bone rolling slowly became a game of fortune-telling and gambling.

Along with the evolution of dice also came the art of cheating in die games. Romans were especially notorious at cheating; Augustus, Nero and Caligula all happened to be prolific dice cheaters.

By the 10th century, dicing was extremely popular almost everywhere. Dicing was in fact so popular that the Crusader army leaders had to prohibit dice gambling among the lower ranks of troops entirely so as to prevent the soldiers from gambling out their possessions entirely.

Origin of slot machines

In 1897, Charles Fey is credited with inventing the slot machine in San Francisco. Prior to Fey’s invention, there were other coin-operated games of chance. Most of these were poker machines that allowed a player to win a cigar or free drinks when they lined-up a winning combination. Since the winners were paid in some sort of merchandise the name "trade stimulator" was attached to these types of machines.

Today, the most popular slot machines can be found in virtual casinos. The internet contains a wide variety of exciting and unusual slot machines whose function accurately simulates that of the familiar slot machines found in every casino around the world. Though lacking in physical form, today's online slot machines offer the player the same odds and excitement found in a casino, only these slots can be played anytime and on any computer.