Along the French Riviera, the Principality of Monaco Houses the small city of Monte Carlo. The city clings to the shore of the Mediterranean in beautiful sprawls of secluded bays and the small port of Monte Carlo.

Casinos of Monte Carlo make for a large part of the place's history. In the latter half of the 1800's the first casino, Casino de Monte Carlo came up in the city. Napoleonic era style can be seen at the Casino de Monte Carlo, designed in the belle poque style. Intention behind this magnificent casino was to please and dazzle the tastes of aristocratic Europeans. These people were the initial target audience for the design of the Monte Carlo's gracious manner of living.

Similarly the Sun Casino built in 1975 is equally ravishing to any gambler with special fondness for American Gambling games.

The most contemporary casino in Monte Carlo is The Sporting. Built in 1990's, the Sporting offers an amazing combination of the best of European casino games and popular american games in an ultra modern and ultra hip ambience.

If you are on a look out for some really exclusive casino games, Cafe de Paris is the place for you. Styled according to the influence of the Art Deco period of the 1930's, it was originally called Cafe Diwan.

Various elegant and dignified games of chances soon came to be identified with the casinos of Monte Carlo. Games of Monte Carlo were majorly classical European games, such as Chermin de Fer, a European version of Baccarat, Punto Banco, a popular card game European Roulette, Trente et Quarante and Banque a deux Tableaux.

In the early nineteenth century, various casinos, in order to keep abreast with the world added slot machines to their list of gambling games. Today Monte Carlo is home to the most exclusive and state of the art slot machines in the world.

Hospitality in Monte Carlo is not limited to the glitzy casinos and utsidethem you can see the ultimate in accommodations, for eg the celebrated Hotel de Paris. It's the second home to some of the most well known and well endowed individuals in terms of both fame and wealth.

Then there are the number of haute cuisine restaurants, located within the restaurants located within the hotels. World famous chefs are busy round the clock to prepare a variety of menu designed to tickle all palates.

The future of Monte Carlo was not an outcome of mere fate or destiny. It was well thought of and planned right through the 19th century.

Although today gambling has little to do with the local economy, but it was, at one point of time, the essential driver of the local economy, bringing in most of the business into the town. Casinos were designed here to appeal to the tourists who arrived here seeking luxury and elegance away from home.

Even today, Monaco is marketed by businesses as a tax haven and an investment destination, a wise place for foreigners to set up shop.

Although the gambling business is totally privatized and no major revenue is earned by the Principality, the results of the Gambling business still have an effect over the economy. Casinos attract wealthy tourists in hordes and it's the money spent by these people that acts as a major driving force for the local economy. Monaco has also become the port of call for some of the large cruise lines.