Casino; the Ultimate Status Symbol
Developed from something that used to be so forbidden, to a grand icon of riches and society; this is how far casinos in the world history have come. Picture yourself in one of those Black Jack tables, betting your way up, or winning the grand prize on the slots machine. Everybody dreams of instant wealth and instant popularity and where else can you achieve this without great effort than in the great status symbol of our society?
The casino setting was, and still is highly popular in movies and books, for it does not only give the status symbol of luxury and wealth, but also treachery, danger and desire. What is it exactly that draws us into the great gambling realms of a casino?
Some people might say it is the mere temptation that the casino radiates. A temptation so succumb to the game of choice. The temptations were you can either win or lose everything. It is like the stereotypical all or nothing, the good and the bad, for we as people have both in us. The status symbol aura that a casino eludes does not come from nowhere. People always wanted to belong to the upper strata of society and also tried to mingle with them. The only place that would give such a person a change to mingle with the riches is a casino. There you feel richer than anybody else without actually having the wealth. And we should not forget the strict conducts of behavior and the muscle packed guards, who implement them.
Another factor that made casinos into status symbols is the media factor. Popular movies such as James Bond, or even Rush Hour have many scenes in the casino with the lead characters trying their luck. In James Bond's case, he always keeps his cool and wins. This is a reflection of how the general viewer would like to be. An important media factor is also the proliferation of gambling addiction and its consequences and the casinos that are blamed. This makes casinos even more popular since there is no such thing as bad PR.
The biggest factor of a casino being a status symbol is without a doubt the symbol itself; money. Without money, a casino would fail to function and no one would even dare to step into one. This status symbol is also what makes people afraid of going into a casino too often; they ultimately think that every casino has some dark underground business, which is mostly not the case (if so it is probably a movie).
After all these years of having gambling and the casinos legalized we can finally look up to our history and see the grand status symbol of our times; the casino.