Have you ever wondered why some people consider gambling – in any form – to be bad? They will all have their own reasons, but one of those reasons might be that they have heard of ‘underground’ or illegal casinos operating, and they equate that, as anyone would, with something bad happening. So let’s take this opportunity to clarify just what an underground casino is, how they work, and why they are different to legal casino slot games.
What Are Underground Casinos?
Underground casinos aren’t going to be big, flashy buildings like the ones you might be used to seeing in Las Vegas, for example. They will generally be small rooms, tucked away where no one will notice them, nondescript, certainly not advertising the fact that gambling is going on behind those closed doors.
These underground casinos will usually be in places where gambling is otherwise prohibited, and there won’t be a lot to them – a few slot machines, perhaps a roulette wheel and blackjack table, maybe poker if there is room and enough people want to play. They are, in other words, not particularly pleasant and certainly not very inviting; they are not as attractive and exciting (or as sinful) as your imagination might expect them to be.
Why Are There Underground Casinos?
The reasons why underground casinos exist will vary from place to place, but in general terms it will be because there are people who want to gamble but whose country, state, or even religion forbids it. Some countries do allow gambling but only in licensed premises, and getting a license is expensive and difficult, so underground casinos have sprung up instead, allowing everyone to play.
Also, if a country taxes any gambling winnings, using an underground casino is a way to circumvent those tax bills and keep every penny of anything that is won. For some, this is worth the risk of being arrested.
Underground Casinos Today
More and more countries are beginning to open up to the idea of gambling. This could be because they can see that gambling is going to happen anyway – because of the number of underground casinos – and governments choose to make money out of the process by setting up legal casinos and allowing gambling, for a cut of the profits, of course. It could just be because people are becoming more relaxed about what constitutes a ‘sin’ as younger, more enlightened leaders are coming to the fore.
However, that won’t be the end of the underground casino. For some, the thrill of doing something illegal, and of being able to make a lot of money doing it, is too much and they would rather play in an underground casino than in a legal one. So many underground casinos have been found that it stands to reason there are many more times that still hiding away. Finding and shutting all of them down is going to be a mammoth task, assuming it is one that still needs to be carried out at all.
