Gold Rush Casinos

Gold Rush and Online Casinos

Even though online casinos were not even a distant pipe dream in the days of the California Gold Rush, the trek made out west to California by so many people opened up a stream of different opportunities for gambling to prosper during those days. People from all over the United States flooded the entire state of California looking for the gold prospects that so many people felt awaited them. Over time, the miners would come to realize that a hard day's work required an equally hard night's play. Beginning as early as the winter of 1848, miners had begun to wager significant amounts of gold dust as currency in various card and table games.

After long, arduous days mining for gold in the mountains of California, workers would embellish their vices by looking for outlets to do their two favorite activities: drink and gamble. Starting in March of 1849, San Francisco, specifically, became the epicenter of many of the gold miners who were looking to strike it rich, like many in current times who play jackpot slots, so they wouldn't have to worry about mining for gold. Casinos in San Francisco had started to be built and there were a rush of initial customers that made casino owners extremely wealthy. The year 1851 marked the infusion of casinos to San Francisco's Portsmouth Square, which became the centralized location for gaming in California. Gambling became so popular in the days of California gold mining, makeshift casinos were erected using simple tools like a canvas and some stakes. Casinos were reveling in the fact that there was so much money to be made from the California gold rush that they continued to push gambling on the general public. By the summer of 1850, the state of California and its accompanying cities were licensing and regulating gambling to raise money.

The mid-1800s also saw California begin to enact laws that made gambling strictly illegal in the state of California. It was no longer enough for miners to spend upwards of 16 hours per day in horrible working conditions, they now had to be told what to do with their money. It was money that could not be spent on gambling. California's Gold Rush led to some great economic times for the gambling community out west, but it quickly became apparent that people believed that gambling was eroding family values and encouraging worship of money over God. In 1885, new laws made it illegal to not only run the games but to play in them as well.

Much like casinos did in mid-1800 California, online casinos are still fighting the same battles for legality. The United States government has said, in no uncertain terms, that they feel online gambling is causing our children severe harm and danger because it is too accessible and too easy to play. However, it appears that the same kind of prohibition that was working in the days of the California Gold Rush might also be applicable in the case of online casinos.

Western casinos helped to pave the way for both land-based and online casinos today with their wide array of games from Poker to Craps to whatever other type of gambling games they could come up with. The variety that these early-day casinos offered to miners during the California Gold Rush pales in comparison to the games that online casinos make available to their patrons today, but it is the same idea of offering the community what they want that allowed California casinos and online casinos to prosper when other businesses floundered.

Such as California gambling dens, houses, and casinos eventually became legal, it is also believed that online gambling will become 100% legal in the United States someday. If it wasn't for those early miners that began to settle the land in California in the mid-1800s, gambling and online slots might not be as popular as it is today. Las Vegas might not have had as many visitors and gambling might have never gotten off the ground. Online casinos are the direct result of many years of the United States indulging in one of its favorite pastimes, gambling, and they are reaping the substantial benefits.