Monte Carlo Gambling History

Despite its lavish reputation, Monaco (Monte Carlo’s home) is a region that has dealt with plenty of struggles and strife over the years. In fact, after Prince Charles III sold several key towns to France in the 1950’s, things got so bad that Monaco’s royal family was facing bankruptcy.

Desperate for a new source of revenue, Monaco’s ruler began looking at German towns such as Baden-Baden and Homburg, which had become prosperous after offering healing springs and casinos. With limited options at his disposal, Prince Charles III decided to give Albert Aubert and Napoleon Langlois a concession to build healing springs and a casino. Aubert and Langlois built the new casino in the La Condamine area of Monaco, thus ushering in the gambling era of future Monte Carlo.

While Prince Charles III and the rest of Monaco’s court were hoping for a gambling boom, things didn’t quite turn out as planned. First off, the casino that Aubert and Langlois built was relocated several times before finally finding a home in the Les Spelugues area. The reason why the casino was moved so many times was due to its lack of success in previous locations.

But as Aubert and Langlois would come to find out, the lack of success was attributed more to the location of Monte Carlo rather than the location of the actual casino. The mountainous terrain surrounding Monaco made traveling to the region extremely difficult since there was only one treacherous road leading to Monte Carlo; plus it was a costly journey. Those wanting to travel by sea had to wait on the single ship that made the voyage back and forth to Monaco.

One other problem facing Monaco’s rise as a popular gambling destination was that Langlois and Aubert didn’t have enough experience running a casino. Eventually, the casino was sold to Louis and Francois Blanc in 1863, which marked the beginning of a positive turn for both the casino and Monaco.

One thing that the Blanc brothers brought to the table in regards to running Monaco’s casino was experience. The Blancs, who made a fortune through what is now known as insider stock trading, started the aforementioned Homburg, Germany casino in 1843. It wasn’t long before the casino became the most poplar gambling establishment in Europe.

On the side, the Blancs had also been watching the Monte Carlo casino development to see if it would become a competitor. When they heard how badly the casino was struggling, the Blancs made an offer to Prince Charles III to buy the casino. Charles accepted and they immediately began transforming the casino into a lavish, ritzy venue, and also building a railroad that allowed people to travel to and from Monaco with ease.

In addition to all of the improvements to the casino and travel arrangements, Prince Charles III also made an improvement to the casino area name; he changed it from Les Spegulues (meaning “den or thieves”) to Monte Carlo (Mount Charles). The casino in this area eventually took on the same name – Monte Carlo Casino.

Once the railroad opened in the late 1860’s, people started flocking to Monte Carlo. The area experienced such rapid success that Charles did away with taxes for all of Monaco (Monaco is still tax-free today). The number of businesses around Monte Carlo grew too with the number of hotels and retail shops experiencing a sharp increase. It’s safe to say that Monte Carlo had finally arrived.

While Monte Carlo and Monaco were both booming from an economic standpoint, this was only the beginning since the region was on the brink of a pop culture boom as well. In 1930, a famous American film called Monte Carlo made the region even more famous than what it already was.

The 1954 movie To Catch a Thief was another film that increased Monte Carlo’s popularity – especially since actress and future Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly starred in the film. Kelly died in the Monte Carlo area when her car went down a mountainside after she had a stroke; Kelly’s tomb is one of the most popular attractions in Monte Carlo.

Of course, the James Bond films are another reason why Monte Carlo is so popular with both Never Say Never Again (1983) and Goldeneye (1995) having filmed in the area. Even modern movies such as Iron Man 2 (2010) and Monte Carlo (2011) used Monte Carlo as a filming location.

Monte Carlo still retains much of the glamour and allure that made it a gambling hub in the late 19^th century. As mentioned before, the area attracts millions of visitors every year, and movies stars and other famous people call Monte Carlo home because of its tax haven status.

Besides gambling, some of the other events that take place in Monte Carlo include the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix, professional poker tournaments, high-profile boxing matches and the Monte Carlo Rally. With all that’s still going on in Monte Carlo today, you can guarantee that it will be a major gambling and entertainment destination for years to come.