As our collective tastes in entertainment evolve, some of the structures we leave behind attest to our development and preferences. Such is the case with the lost casinos we can find throughout the world – magnificent structures of fascinating architectural importance.
Although the evolution of gaming transitioned towards a hybridization of land-based and online casinos, the echoes of the past still speak to us from other eras.
Even if passionate yet spooked-out gamblers may go for the digital space and use the services of digital platforms like a web-based sportsbook or an Apple Pay casino, here are some of the monuments that the history of gambling has left behind!
The Most Fascinating Abandoned Casinos
In what other way should we navigate through history other than presenting some of the essential gaming halls lost in time? These ruined buildings may be of time memorial, and their significance is still alive, even if their current physical forms pale in comparison to their heyday.
Asbury Park Casino
Before slots, machines effectively turned into video games, and before table games turned into live streams, you could only roll the dice, hold the cards, and spin the reels in a physical casino. Other than Las Vegas, the American capital of gambling was in New Jersey, whose Asbury Park district was among the most prevalent.
Just like the collapse of the Rust Belt rendered an entire lifestyle obsolete and desolate, so did the fall of this NJ district affect the Asbury Park Casino.
Ironically, its most famous iteration finished construction in 1929, right around the start of the Great Depression. As post-war New Jersey went through continued its inevitable decline, the 1980s saw the effective collapse of Asbury Park.
Consequently, the casino (and carousel) it housed fell into disrepair, ultimately succumbing to misuse, neglect, and the inescapable fate of its downfall.
Casino di Consonno
We might be speaking about casino ruins in this article, but how about the ruination of an entire resort town? Let’s go beyond even that – how about the ruination of a person’s dream?
There was a little farming village in the middle of Lombardy, the economic powerhouse of Italy, that Count Mario Bagno bought in January 1962. As his vision started taking shape, and the town became a haven for entertainment in general, the Casino di Consonno became its crown jewel.
The structure took inspiration from Las Vegas, and the next decade saw the success of this passion project. However, by the early-to-mid 70s, this marvelous place in the middle of the Lombard Hills saw its mystique dissipate, followed by the catastrophe of 1976: a natural disaster.
The extreme rains of that year led to landslides in that arena, with the earth taking the only road into town. Despite the attempts to revive the casino, the 21st century came with even more problems, most of them relating to vandalism, turning the casino into a tainted memory of times past.
Casino Constanta
We took you to New Jersey; we took you to beautiful Italy, but how about a left-field pick: an abandoned casino in Eastern Europe?
This sea-shore structure in the port town of Constanța, Romania, became an icon of art nouveau during the rule of the Romanian monarchy, aiming to imitate the architectural beauties of the French Riviera.
The two main issues this impressive casino had to go through were events you might’ve heard of: the First and Second World Wars. Even through their devastation, the communist regime still tried to keep it intact despite the maintenance expenses.
Even after the fall of Romania’s communist regime, the casino has remained closed since 1990, remaining a sore thumb in the middle of one of the country’s most important cities.
Casino Constanța has represented a symbol of neglect and frustration, although this story seems to be one heading towards a happy resolution, with a renovation project currently in development.
The Echoes We Hear Today
There’s much to be learned about the past, as there has always been something inescapably eerie about ruins, especially those of formerly thriving places.
The best thing to implement from our past is to understand that responsibility is essential when you’re involved in gambling, as misuse can affect even the most imposing structures and the visionaries behind them.
Just like the people who built and operated these ruined gambling halls gambled with their own dreams, regular people gamble with their own money.
As a result, we can safely say that the gaming evolution we see behind our eyes can tell us one crucial thing: to gamble responsibly!
