1. Las Vegas, United States of America
It’s probably the first place that comes to mind when you think of gambling destinations around the world, and for good reason! Located in Nevada in the United States, Las Vegas is referred to by many as the gambling capital of the world.
Littered with casinos, Las Vegas is renowned for its glitz and glamor – indeed, the main reason people go on vacation to Vegas may be to gamble, but it’s also a great place to go to watch live performances and enjoy incredible culinary experiences. For many people, just going to a casino, even if they’re not going to gamble at all, is an incredible outing in itself!
In fact, for this very reason, Vegas has become a popular destination for boys’/girls’ trips, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and other similar occasions.
2. Monte Carlo, Monaco
Monaco may be best known for its plethora of incredible casinos and places to gamble, but Monte Carlo is known, in particular, for its fancy establishments, for lack of a better term.
Monte Carlo, in general, is renowned as a “playground for the rich and famous”, and it involves plenty of high-stakes betting and gambling. It’s a great place to visit if you enjoy dressing up and feeling like you’re a character in a “Bond” movie!
3. Macau, China
Next up is Macau in China, known by many as “the Monte Carlo of the East”. Gambling has been legal in Macau since the 1950s when it was legalized by the Portuguese settlers at the time. Since then, the gambling economy is the area has absolutely flourished, and gambling actually makes up as much as 50% of Macau’s total economy. In fact, Macau surpassed Las Vegas in total gambling revenues in 2007.
Western-style gambling was only introduced in the 20th century, and up until then, Chinese gambling and betting games were played exclusively – the most popular of these games was “Fan-Tan”.
Interestingly enough, because Macau is a “special administrative region” in China (much like Hong Kong), it’s the only place where you can legally bet and gamble in the whole country. Thus, it is, perhaps, less surprising that there’s such a high concentration of gambling and casinos in Macau.
4. Singapore
Singapore, official the Republic of Singapore, is also quite strict when it comes to rules and laws about gambling – in fact, gambling is actually illegal, under general terms. However, the loophole for legal gambling in Singapore is that it is allowed as long as it’s done within an Integrated Resort (IR).
What is an integrated resort? Well, an IR is a major resort properly that normally includes a hotel, entertainment and convention facilities, theme parks, fine dining, and luxury retail. So, technically speaking, if an IR added a casino to that list, it would be legal.
The two first, and main, casinos in Singapore are in Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sandas, and they both opened in 2010 in line with the new gambling laws in the country. But gambling had actually been taking place therefore that – legally – but it was social gambling, which is what made it okay. That is, people weren’t actually making money from it, it was just for fun!
5. Atlantic City, New Jersey
Behind Las Vegas (in terms of casino cities in the United States) is Atlantic City, referred to by many as a party city – another top destination choice for bachelor and bachelorette parties! There are nine resort-casino establishment – admittedly far fewer than in Vegas.
But how did Atlantic City become such a popular destination for gambling? Well, in 1974, gambling was made illegal in the state of New Jersey, Atlantic City included, but there was significant opposition to the new law. Two years later, a referendum was passed to legalize gambling in Atlantic City, and it soon became the only city in the state where gambling was legal. At the time Nevada was the only other state where you could gamble, so this was a pretty big deal!
6. Sydney, Australia
Gambling is incredibly popular in Australia in general, whether at land-based venues or online at sites like Lucky Creek casino. But Syndey is where most gambling takes place in the country. There are a total of ten different casinos in the city – Star Casino being the biggest and most extravagant – but it’s not only at casinos that people gamble. In fact, there are pokies (slot machines) in many different places (although they need to be licensed), so it’s fairly easy to do a little bit of gambling wherever you go!
7. Reno, Nevada
Reno is the second location in the state of Nevada that is big on gambling, just behind Las Vegas, of course. Unlike Vegas, Reno doesn’t have a strip of casinos, but they’re pretty much all located in the downtown area within a walkable distance, so there’s a similar atmosphere.
Known as the “Biggest Little City”, Reno is thought of by many as a preferable option to Vegas because it’s a little bit smaller and manageable, it has all the same game options, there are still big casinos and fancy dining establishments, and it’s cheaper to gamble! The casinos also tend to be a little less pretentious, so if that sounds more up your alley than fancy glitz glam, then you may want to choose Reno over Las Vegas.
8. London, England
Gambling has been fairly popular in London, and the United Kingdom more generally, for many years (centuries, in fact), but the industry has grown even more over recent years. London has more than 20 different casinos where you can play all the classic games, including poker, roulette, and slots. The largest casino in the city is the Empire – it has more than 100 slot machines!
The other thing is that London caters to a fairly upper-class client base, so you’ll probably find that a lot of the city’s casinos are quite fancy and sophisticated to establishments you may find in smaller towns and cities elsewhere in thew world.
