Gamblers enjoy high-stake betting on roulette, poker, black jack, and slot machines at Baden-Baden's classy Spielbank, the largest and oldest legal casino in Germany.

Baden-Baden is famous for its hot springs and spas but legal gambling in its classy casino has been part of the Baden-Baden experience for most of the past 250 years.

• Legal gambling started in Baden-Baden in 1748.

From Spa Town to Europe’s Top Casino

In 1848, a year of revolutions and upheaval in most of Europe, Edouard Bénazet took control of the casino business in Baden-Baden. He quickly expanded gaming, redecorated the casino in the neo-Baroque Grand Epoch style, and invited top musicians to Baden-Baden. The rich and famous followed.

For the following two decades, Baden-Baden in the Black Forest was more famous for gambling than for its spas. The European nobility and artists loved the place, the cultural events, the gossip, the waters, and the gambling.

Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky won a fortune in Wiesbaden but lost all of it, including the shirt off his back, in Baden-Baden. This experience inspired his book The Gambler.

• It was long a law in parts of Germany that a gambler could only loose as much as he had on him at the moment of placing the bet. “On him” included overcoat and shirt but not underwear and pants!

In 1872, the prudish Prussians managed to ban gambling throughout the German empire. In Baden-Baden, the focus went back to the hot waters. Dedicated gamblers had to abandon German casinos such as Baden-Baden, Bad Homburg, and Wiesbaden but rather than give up the game, created the enduring new casino paradise in Monte Carlo.

Gambling in Baden-Baden resumed in 1933 – top Nazis always knew how to separate public propriety and prudishness from private pleasure and licentiousness. The casino stayed open until 1944, closing only in the dying months of the Second World War. Gambling resumed in 1950.

Spielbank Baden-Baden Casino

Baden-Baden’s Spielbank (casino) is in the neo-Classical Kurhaus erected in 1824 by Friedrich Weinbrenner. The casino in the Kurhaus is physically (and mentally) divided into two sections: the Großes Spiel (tables) on the ground floor and the Automatenspiel (slot machine) in the vaulted cellars.

• Games available at the tables are roulette (French, American, and Eurolette), Black Jack, and Poker (Texas Hold'em and Tropical). Minimum (usually €2 to €10) and maximum bets (up to €10,000) are displayed at each individual table.

Gambling in Germany is generally an upmarket experience. The atmosphere at the tables is more James Bond 007 than slot machines at a truck stop. Although a tuxedo is not essential to enter the main room, for men jackets and ties (available at reception) are.

Things are more casual at the slot machines where informal dress is allowed. Around 130 machines are available with minimum bets of 10c or 50c.

Opening Hours & Admission to Spielbank Baden-Baden Casino in Germany

General opening hours are daily from 2 pm, closing at 2 am (3 am on Friday and Saturday nights). Poker and black jack are played from early evening.

Admission to the tables’ room is €3 and to the slot machine room €1.

• The minimum age for admission and gambling is 21 years – passports or official IDs (driving licenses not valid) are checked at reception.

Baden-Baden has many other attractions other than gambling in its casino. Day spas are very popular while guests in its top luxury hotels can enjoy exquisite private spas and beauty salons. Cheap flights are available from many parts of Europe to the conveniently located Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport (FKB) only minutes from the Spielbank (casino).