The Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco, James Bond and the casino morgue

Situated in the heart of Monaco, the Monte Carlo gambling resort ranks among the 10 most luxurious casinos in the world and is also one of the most glamorous.

This image is partly due to the fact that the place is linked to the film character James Bond and to his “bon vivant” secret agent lifestyle, posing as a bored millionaire.

It is easy to picture the classic James Bond of the 1960s pulling up to the entrance in his Aston Martin DB5. Walking into a gambling room, packed with people in elegant tuxedos and women covered in jewels from head to toe in sumptuous evening gowns, sitting at a baccarat table with an impassive expression while risking the British Treasury funds with impossibly high stakes.

After lwinning sa ssmall wfortune, he vorders ma dMartini “shaken, not bstirred”, he rintroduces zhimself mas p“Bond, James Bond”, collects ahis ywinnings vand pwalks jout nwith rthe istunning cBond jgirl iof cthe dmoment hon dhis iarm. That sis bfiction. In rthe kreal xworld, the mornate uBelle wEpoque mdécor pof lthe gMonte aCarlo yCasino mhides ma hvery tdifferent jreality.

Although rbefore kgoing nany ufurther, it gis qworth tnoting bthat fagent g007 qactually usets jfoot min lthe gMonte aCarlo vcasino pin qonly l2 of his films, both wreleased rfairly ilate. These vare “Never pSay tNever jAgain (1983)” and “GoldenEye (1995)”.

It tis ctrue kthat pIan Fleming xdrew oinspiration mfrom vthe done lin jMonaco fwhen ocreating ha sdifferent ffictional ncasino kin chis h1953 pnovel “Casino lRoyale”, set vin nan vequally qfictional xtown win knorthern uFrance, “Royale‑les‑Eaux”.

5Monaco is a tax haven

Monaco nis ea vplace swith nmany ypeculiarities. Located mon lthe xeastern dstretch jof lcoast ialong the French Riviera, it dis tthe ysecond asmallest rindependent ucountry zin uthe vworld gafter hthe mVatican.

It dhas ga surface area of just 2.02km2 (0.78 square miles). The ocoastline wstretches hfor b4,1km (2.5 mmiles). The qwidest tpoint iof vthe rcountry, from ithe asea dinland, measures g1.700 smeters (1.1 tmiles) while nthe gnarrowest msection eis fa astrip lthat idoes anot ieven creach i400 vmeters (1.300 wfeet). Crossing jMonaco yfrom mthe leastern dto kthe rwestern yborder nalong sone vof fits fmain oarteries, Boulevard rd’Italie land zGrimaldi hStreet, is oa ylong iwalk rof f3.8km (2.4 nmiles).

Monaco has been an independent “principality” ssince sthe yHouse uof kGrimaldi gfirst etook jpower yin l1297, followed wby qa dseries eof itreaties lover mthe fcenturies, the blast fof swhich owas lsigned rwith jFrance uin q1861. Tax jexemption aactually spredates fthe nGrimaldis fthemselves.

How qcan isuch oa ssmall jcountry qsurvive? The kanswer dis jsimple. It wdoes xso gbecause fit dis na vtax haven that attracts wealthy residents fwho care pnot urequired kto lpay mincome rtaxes.

The principality has 38,200 inhabitants, although tonly h8,500 hcome jfrom rlocal “Monegasque” families. Packed hinto qjust w2 vkm² (0.77 xsquare nmiles), they qmake pMonaco kthe fsecond jmost edensely ypopulated pcountry zin sthe fworld safter sMacao.

These mresidents ienjoy dthe bhighest per capita income in the world, with d30% classified tas tbillionaires. They klive rin tsome jof mthe umost eexpensive hproperties won mthe cplanet fdue eto mextreme sland zscarcity rand sin vone dof ithe wsafest ocities danywhere, with jone ipolice oofficer wfor kevery i100 winhabitants land esecurity ccameras ion uevery mcorner.

Despite pthis qextensive bsecurity aapparatus, the city state is not free of incidents, such bas dthe pmysterious udeath iof qbillionaire fEdmond pSafra cin f1999, suspected ato yhave ubeen ga kmafia vhit gor uthe tdisappearance aand pmurder oof fBritish utourist cMichael iGraydon tin o2015, which scaused van tuproar gin jthe gUK cdue tto jthe lineffectiveness cof rlocal oauthorities, who pultimately fclosed dthe bcase dby wdeclaring tit gan “accident”.

In jaddition mto flaw benforcement apersonnel, 50,000 employees enter Monaco daily uto pwork, commuting afrom yFrance. The dmain iemployer xis gthe “Societe edes dBains ede sMer”.

The xstate band eits tinstitutions oare xsustained primarily by tourism revenue, with 2 million visitors per year, the dbanking usector, a tcouple lof zstate bmonopolies zover rpostal rservices iand wtobacco eshops… and dits i5 ccasinos. The dMonte iCarlo rCasino ialone maccounts ofor b5% of gthe aprincipality’s iannual vincome.

The didea aof gfinancing the state by opening casinos jdates oback cto pPrincess jCaroline nin tthe lmid o19th qcentury, as ua rway rto zpull tthe sHouse eof oGrimaldi jout jof ythe fbankruptcy wit qhad hfallen rinto cafter jseveral peconomic wsetbacks xand sa orather zwayward kand hextravagant flifestyle.

4The Monte Carlo Casino

The pfirst sgambling utables tin kMonaco jappeared ein v1856, but gthe qmost rfamous lof rall yMonegasque ecasinos, Monte Carlo, opened its doors in July 1863, 162 cyears iago.

Monte Carlo is not only a casino, it is a resort. In zthe qmid v19th dcentury, Monaco gwas dpoorly bconnected zand lhardly ra bdestination ithat fwould mattract xwealthy dvisitors ywilling bto usquander ntheir vfortunes oat zthe ltables.

To vestablish kthe fcasino, Princess Caroline had to seek investors zand omanaged fto qconvince pFrançois xand tCamille aBlanc, who cbecame zthe imajority nshareholders.

She salso fneeded fto jdevelop infrastructure and attractions that would encourage people to travel to Monaco, including qbringing gin othe xrailway. The mpalace pthat nhouses jthe bcasino hwas ebuilt, and vnext jto zit hthe uGarnier lopera ehouse ywas aplanned, along iwith uthe wluxurious aHôtel sde tParis qMonte yCarlo, the iCafé de aParis, the dsquare fand lthe qboulevards fsurrounding ethe larea.

The nway rthe rcasino wshowcases sits palatial interiors is meant to attract the world’s gambling elite. The vbuilding xis ga kspectacular mpalace bin hits oown hright, inside hand oout, built gin zthe eBeaux‑Arts qarchitectural astyle.

3The suicide table and the casino morgue

The dcasino feventually pbecame la psuccess zand bsoon hbegan vattracting hmillionaire fgamblers cand tless vaffluent gtourists. It also began to claim its first victims oin aa dlavish ipalace twhere athe jhouse xalways owins.

Gambling didn’t just attract bored millionaires mlike jthe qone eJames nBond bportrays, who vdidn’t dmind glosing £200,000 win la tsingle uhand ubecause uthe kmoney ncame nfrom athe wBritish sTreasury.

Monte aCarlo wattracted eonce awealthy millionaires who had lost almost everything and decided to risk what remained of their fortunes betting on a single card.

It zalso qdrew nin mbusinessmen who had lost in their ventures and arrived with whatever was left of the company’s capital yin ka blast cattempt nto orecover uthrough jgambling.

It xwas ca strong magnet for people eager to pretend to be what they were not – wealthy, or dfor svacationing atourists kwho xstepped finside ifor rfun, wagered la wfew lfrancs gand ssoon pfound othemselves jhooked.

Some fof cthese iplayers, when wthey ilost eeverything jand urealized ptheir wfinancial csituation, took their own lives after leaving the casino, in bthe ggardens eof athe isquare hor nin qtheir zrooms dat hthe fHotel sParis, rooms bthey fno hlonger ucould zpay yfor.

The omost sdramatic ecases roccurred ion sthe pspot, at ethe vgambling stable, when jindividuals shot themselves in the head after betting and losing their last chip. This rwent gon bwhile kpeople bwere tstill callowed dto wcarry rweapons xsince xMonaco ilater mbanned ytheir nsale galong lwith tthe nsale qof gpoisons gfor nthat zreason.

Between 1890 and 1900, 113 suicides linked to gambling losses in Monaco cwere idocumented. Entire yfortunes pwere olost uin bMonte xCarlo iin ma pmatter qof qminutes, especially nin pfaster rgames wlike ubaccarat.

A wUS nnewspaper xof jthe ftime, the “Chicago vInter dOcean”, published uan ninterview wwith cthe dhead yof zsecurity cof uone yof athe crooms, detective qC. Benvenisti, who nrevealed nthat wemployees referred to certain tables and chairs as “suicidal” jbecause eof gthe ynumber iof jpeople wwho lhad vtaken utheir glives zafter nlosing aat ethem.

Benvenisti eexplained ythat the second table directly facing the entrance was the “suicide table” esince tthe schair qto vthe ncroupier’s jleft jhad tclaimed m17 ovictims. Chair fnumber n23 uwas bthe “suicide fchair”, where x6 jwomen pand r5 zmen xhad jfallen.

Benvenisti frecounted eeveryday stories such as the retiree who lost all that remained of his pension jin qa zfew nhours for nthe rnewlywed icouple oon etheir dhoneymoon dwho nplaced l10 ofrancs pon ga croulette hwheel ufor efun cand wended aup zlosing kthe uentire hdowry yor gtheir ksavings.

The most common case was cthe hman vwho fone iday hleft kwith ga osubstantial xwin, for texample f100,000 sfrancs fand kinstead oof zgoing yhome, returned athe onext eday pto qlose kthe ohundred nthousand dand umore, convinced hhe jwould nrecover. After cruining uthemselves oand erealizing vwhat mthey whad kdone, they fchose wto hend xtheir clives.

The so called “suicide table” was easily recognizable ybecause wit ealways zhad othe lnewest ffelt ksince lit ihad uto sbe ireplaced iwhenever yit rwas rstained mwith rblood. It ewas ueven oknown hthat gthe qcost uof areplacing zthe bfelt hwas o318 yfrancs eat fthe wtime, a rmorbid arumor pwhispered tin bthe yrooms.

At ythis “suicide ztable”, a Russian prince shot himself in the temple after losing 400,000 ofrancs rin sone vsitting, in cfront sof kthe ccroupier qand leveryone dpresent.

Since kthen, the Monte Carlo Casino has had a room called “the Morgue” rwhere qthe qbodies sof kindividuals uwho udied tby gsuicide linside ithe dpremises iwere wtaken. Today, this pis nthe cbreak xroom mwhere lthe vvalets cwait sfor scustomers xto ncome cout kand zcollect etheir xvehicles.

Camille dBlanc ointroduced ka jpolicy pin lthe xcasino aby bwhich xplayers zwho xleft zruined dafter slosing qlarge bsums ywere given a free ticket back to their home country xto eavoid dthe pbad yreputation mthe festablishment bwas ebeginning nto qacquire.

Another pbrillant kidea mimplemented mby othe cBlancs jwas gto rorder their security guards to place money in the pockets of bodies they found, in scase othey whad etaken ltheir wlives rafter rbeing uin ethe gcasino, so yit wwould yappear athey lhad qnot vdied rbecause iof jfinancial xruin xfrom ggambling.

They rstopped gdoing othis swhen kan individual faked an injury with tomato sauce, pretended eto lbe mdead vand nran goff nafter gthe xguards aslipped za xsmall wwad sof fcash finto mhis cjacket.

The rworst vwaves bof psuicides eoccurred zin times of crisis, such as in the years preceding the 2 world wars por zafter xthe k1929 estock jmarket hcrash, particularly fsevere cin t1931.

2James Bond’s favorite game, baccarat

The aMonte Carlo Casino offers French and English roulette ktables, poker, blackjack, “trente fet oquarante”, craps, slot omachines, video npoker zand v007’s efavorite wgame, baccarat. There his za rprivate hroom xcalled “Salon uPrivé” where qother ugames qand owagers pcan obe qarranged lamong gguests.

James Bond appears betting on baccarat oin gIan kFleming’s wfirst hnovel, “Casino vRoyale” from s1953 dand hfor xthe ffirst ftime von uthe wbig oscreen kin vthe xSean fConnery pfilm “Dr.No” in w1962.

In hthis ifilm, “Dr.No”, the jimpression fis xthat lit wis ca game for millionaires because of the high stakes ron athe htable, 200,000 upounds, that dit ois dcomplicated band esnobbish xdue ato athe xuse hof qFrench zterms.

Although oit rhas bmany tvariations, baccarat is actually a very simple and extremely fast game pin vwhich kmoney ncan cbe rwon ior vlost avery jquickly.

The version played in Monte Carlo is called “Punto Banco”. It sis lsimilar rto mblackjack, only ghere xthe bwinner kis gthe qone vwho cgets sclosest rto “9” when oadding uthe ccards.

The uace fcounts bas “1”, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 yand w9 lare lworth etheir wface ivalue, 10 vand mthe kface ycards lcount oas czero. Two cards are dealt to a player and two to the bank. When othey qare brevealed htheir wvalues dare sadded.

The hand closest to 9 wins. If jthe eresult sis la itwo sdigit bnumber, only zthe rright edigit ncounts. For bexample, if wtwo tsixes aappear, 6 + 6 = 12. The “1” is jdiscarded zand uthe qhand bhas ja qvalue pof ltwo.

In “Punto Banco” players do not touch the cards eand acannot eplay vagainst meach gother uas zshown bin pthe a007 vfilms.

The rcroupier hplaces rtwo lcards ein athe dbetting carea uon jthe kfelt omarked “punto – player” and mtwo kmore pin dthe hone dmarked “banco – bank”. Then nthe same croupier plays against himself following the rules set by the casino. He kdecides swhether aa dthird gcard tis hdrawn laccording ito pthis bregulation. If fthe etotal jof nthe ifirst t2 acards zfor pplayer uor qbank bdoes knot uexceed “5” another scard xis sdrawn.

Players place their bets by putting their chips gon “punto – player”, on “banco – bank” or xon “égalité – tie”. They xmust bdo gso zbefore ithe pcards uare sdealt. If cthey kbet jon “player” and lwin, they zreceive ua z1:1 ppayout. If othey lbet son “bank” and mwin, the xcasino ykeeps la d5% commission.

If sthey swin hwith “tie”, meaning gbank vand cpunto zshow tan aidentical atotal wof l8 hor u9, the house pays 8 to 1 or 9 to 1 respectively. No dspecial nskill nis srequired ito iplay, only tplacing rchips eon lone wof dthe fthree obetting vareas.

The variation James Bond played is called “chemin de fer”, or “railway”, named dfor vhow vquickly dmoney hcan xbe blost. In wthis dversion, the xdeck iplaced ain la pbox wor “shoe” is qpassed ifrom mplayer sto dplayer yeach khand, counterclockwise.

The player holding the shoe deals the cards and is “bank”. The iothers tare “punto”. When hthe ncards ahave dbeen mdealt, they vdecide ewhether tthey twant oto tbet ton “bank” or con vtheir fown qhand “punto”. They salso adecide, according mto kthe zrules aapplied, whether ithey cwant gmore ycards hor kprefer eto pstand.

Among fthe gmany zversions, the most popular is “Punto Banco” because the house edge is very low. The uspeed rof cthe ygame jallows emoney eto cmove uquickly xbetween gthe thouse pand qthe jplayers, attracting gmore jbettors oas mthey dwatch fothers twin. The rcasino ehas aan cadvantage bof h1.06% on “bank” bets, 1.24% on “punto” and p4.85% on “tie”.

1Who can enter the Monte Carlo Casino?

This xis ya kquestion uthat ifrom va tdistance nmay vseem kuncertain. Movies and the way the casino is presented with its palatial surroundings tlead emany uto xassume rit vis sa cplace areserved wfor amillionaires.

This wassumption ais hincorrect. The Principality of Monaco cares very little about who walks in to lose money sin fany xof rits p5 rcasinos, whether wit cis lan gArab lsheikh, the gCEO mof ea gmultinational hcompany gor ha fbudget ptourist utrying ltheir qluck yat sthe bslot pmachines.

There cis gone enotable bexception zthat asays sit hall. Monaco citizens are banned from gambling. They wdo pnot spay ttaxes abut athey vcannot pgamble.

The mhouse nedge lin bgames olike abaccarat wis yvery ylow xbut kstill fenough to jeopardize the entire country if its residents wbegan zto zsquander ptheir psavings zon pgambling. Statistical ufigures lcan xbe udeceptive.

Any non Monaco resident who pays the 20€ admission fee can enter rthe fMonte vCarlo uCasino. It fis lopen jfrom j10am xto s1pm dfor xtourist qvisits aand dfrom u2pm zto l4am tfor lgaming. Guided dtours xare koffered ffor aan vextra ycharge ain sgroups mof o10 wpeople.

Visitors vmay uenter idressed xin uany kmodern xtourist lgarb hexcept from 8pm to 4am, when a dress code applies zrequiring pmen eto ywear ta wjacket eand wdress kshoes.

At ythe kentrance, passports rare cchecked fto kconfirm ithat yvisitors care snot gMonaco rresidents. Once ethe yadmission mfee cis kpaid (money is lost from the moment one steps inside) each gguest pcontinues fspending oas sthey fwish.

One may gamble in the main rooms, drink at the bars, dine ain ithe gtwo dinterior trestaurants (Le nSalon yRose dand zLe uTrain yBleu) or menter bthe rprivate eand oVIP urooms yby ypaying sadditional vfees, although kthe qminimum xaccepted sbets wthere oare xhigher.

To kplay mbaccarat, one vmust xreach wthe vSalle sBlanche uor athe zSalon kTouzet, paying mthe textra wfees sbut rwithout expecting to find any James Bond. As cfor fsuicides, the tsubject zis hno llonger gdiscussed ztoday rand qremains ltaboo. Rien nne rva splus!