Summary
Most casino buildings are not worth a second look. They're optimized for floor density and climate control, and it shows. But there are exceptions, and some of them are genuinely remarkable buildings that happen to have gambling inside. These ten are worth visiting for the architecture alone.
Most casinos are not beautiful buildings. They're optimized for other things: sight lines, floor density, climate control. Architecture tends to be an afterthought. But there are exceptions, and some of them are remarkable.
Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
The standard-setter. Charles Garnier designed it in the 1860s, and it still looks like he meant it. The atrium ceiling, the painted panels, the Belle Epoque detail work: this is a building that would be worth visiting as a museum. The fact that you can play roulette inside it is almost secondary.
Casino Baden-Baden, Germany
Marlene Dietrich called it the most beautiful casino in the world, which is good enough as endorsements go. The Weinbrennersaal ballroom runs the length of the building and is all gilt, chandeliers, and formal proportions. Baden-Baden has been a European spa town for two centuries and the casino fits that register exactly.
Casino Estoril, Portugal
The largest casino in Europe by floor space, but the reason to visit is the setting. It sits on a hill above Estoril with the Atlantic visible in the distance and formal gardens running down to the road. Ian Fleming visited during the war and used it as inspiration for Casino Royale. Whether or not you gamble, the grounds are worth walking around.
Sun City's Palace of the Lost City, South Africa
The Palace is a fantasy building: a fictionalized ancient African palace, complete with towers, a man-made jungle, and a wave pool outside. It shouldn't work as architecture, but the scale and commitment of it is genuinely impressive. The casino is inside, but the exterior is the main event.
Wynn Las Vegas, Nevada
Steve Wynn's contribution to Las Vegas was a deliberate attempt to make a beautiful casino, not just a big one. The flower arrangements are changed daily. The Lake of Dreams has a real theatrical quality at night. By the standards of Strip architecture it's exceptional, and by any standard the attention to finish is obvious.
City of Dreams, Macau
Zaha Hadid designed the Morpheus tower that anchors City of Dreams, and it's the most architecturally serious building on the Cotai Strip by some distance. The exoskeleton structure is genuinely unusual, the atrium voids are dramatic, and the whole thing looks like nothing else in Macau.
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
The three towers connected by a sky park at 200 meters became one of the most photographed buildings in Asia almost immediately after opening. Moshe Safdie designed it, and whatever you think of casino architecture generally, this one changed Singapore's skyline in a way that's hard to argue with.
Casino Kursaal, San Sebastian, Spain
Rafael Moneo's building on the Bay of Biscay is a glass cube that looks good from every angle and extraordinary at night when it's lit from inside. It's a small casino by international standards, but the building is among the better pieces of contemporary architecture attached to a gambling property anywhere in the world.
Grand Lisboa, Macau
The lotus-flower tower rising above the Peninsula is hard to miss from anywhere in central Macau. The older Lisboa next door is a landmark in its own right, but the Grand Lisboa's rotunda shape and LED exterior made it the more photographed building. The lobby interior goes heavy on gold and crystal. It commits.
Casino de Spa, Belgium
The oldest casino in the world that's still operating. It opened in 1763 and the neoclassical building retains most of its original character. By the standards of what came after it, it's a quiet room. But there's something to be said for a place that's been doing this for over 250 years.
