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Casino Restaurant Design
Casinos bring to mind images of bright lights, glamour, and glitter accompanied by laughter, cries of joy and the buzz of excitement surrounding wins and losses. Skillful casino restaurant design draws on all of these elements to create an environment that entices people from all walks of life.
“Casino” is a word that originally meant “house,” though it has long been associated with pleasure. Casino restaurant designs are carefully constructed around the expectations of casino visitors to maximize the potential for profits.
While the majority of Britains 137 casinos feature lackluster design and decor, for most people the word “casino” still evokes a sense of distinctive elegance and prestige. Such expectations may be due to the popularity of the fictional James Bond, whose cinematic adventures include spectacular wins at the wheel amid the splendor of a chic casino. The casino featured in the classic James Bond films was inspired by the existing Grand Casino in Monte Carlo. Ian Flemings first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was inspired not only by this Monte Carlo setting, but also by a real-life millionaire.
Monte Carlos Grand Casino was designed by Charles Garnier, and still maintains its air of graceful glamour today. Since its opening in 1878, this famous structure has set the style for casinos worldwide. The Grand Casino was legendary in its time, and its design represented all that a casino should be. However, this original concept did not stand the test of time. As Las Vegas and Macau began to rule the world of casinos, Trente et Quarante and Chemin de Fer faded away along with ballrooms, sophisticated opera houses and ballet schools. In locations such as Macau, new super casino restaurant designs have arisen to take their place in the modern world of casinos.
Blackpool features another example of good casino design. The first Blackpool casino was built in 1913, and featured a symbolic design and an Indian architectural style. This original casino was replaced by a modern European design that emphasized stylized fun while prohibiting gambling. While this new casino was considered sophisticated and respectable, the fact that gambling was not allowed prevented it from achieving the highest level of success.
The British point of view regarding casino restaurant design is flawed by a refusal to admit that gambling at this level is all about dazzling lights and glitter. Casino architecture must be exciting. Pretending that future casinos will play an upright, commendable role in the regeneration of cities is, at best, humorous. Manchesters casino, for example, should not be a polite construction of curved glass-and-steel roofs.
Casinos have always attracted a wide variety of people from around the world. The success of any casino has invariably depended on excellent design that offers all the elements customers have come to expect from these establishments. Superior casino and casino restaurant design meets or surpasses customer expectations for excitement, exquisite glamour and elegance. Whether developing new properties or renovating existing buildings, owners should approach design with utmost care and professionalism.
Down Memory Lane with Roulette
Many people credit the brothers Louis and Francois Blanc as the inventors of roulette. The myth goes that they sold their soul to the devil to know the secret of the game. What do they proffer as proof for this theory the sum of the numbers on the roulette wheel is 666. But some people believe that the game started thousands of years ago maybe in Persia or maybe in China. There is no definite history that one can come up with.
But it is generally believed that it was the famous mathematician of France Blaise Pascal who came up with the first form of roulette as he was searching for an ideal machine having perpetual motion. This happened sometime in the 18th century. The reference to roulette was actually found earlier in 1758 in the regulations for Quebec and then in the novel La Roulette, ou le Jou by Jaques Lablee. It was actually in France where the game seems to have originated and then it spread to the other countries of the world.
As far as modern roulette is concerned one must credit Louis and Francois Blanc for their popularity. After they introduced single zero roulette wheel in 1843 in Homburg in Germany they later on moved to Monte Carlo in the 1860s when the German government abolished gambling. It was here in Monte Carlo where the game caught like wildfire and started attracting some of the most famous names worldwide who came to play in the casinos here.
The popularity of roulette in the United States of America moved up the River Mississippi. The French version became popular first but the American roulette wheel suddenly had three extra slots one for single zero, one for double zero and for the American Eagle. While the eagle disappeared after sometime the slots for single zero and double zero stayed. This wheel continues to be used in the USA even today while Europe continues to use the roulette wheel with just a single zero.
The name roulette comes from French for “little wheel”. From the time it was introduced as a casino game it became immensely popular and remains one of the most popular casino games even today. Whether you go to Monte Carlo or Las Vegas you will find the most number of gamblers around the roulette table. And till the time people continue to gamble roulette will remain the game of choice worldwide.