User:B am 240/sandbox

Gambling at Monaco

During the time of the mid-nineteenth century Monaco's reigning family, the Grimaldis, found their principality in the midst of an economic crisis. Resort towns, around this time, were an already popular destination for Europeans to visit, inspiring the ruling Prince Charles III to replicate the success of casinos within the German towns Baden-Baden, Wiesbaden, and Homberg within Monaco. Despite the intention, the early casinos of Monaco were not very successful due to the tasking journey Europeans had to endure in order to reach the principality. “What undoubtedly saved Charles III’s throne was the discovery of a successful entrepreneur, François Blanc, in 1863." Blanc, holding previous experience with the successful gambling halls of Germany, opened Monte Carlo’s premier establishment, the Hotel de Paris in 1863. The Hotel de Paris was designed by Charles Garnier, famous architect of the Paris Opera House. To deal with the issues surrounding travel, Blanc successfully persuaded a group of prominent engineers and financiers, including the Rothschild family, to dig travel tunnels from Nice to Monaco, through the mountains, allowing Europe to access this remote part of Europe with unprecedented ease. After the establishment of the new rail line, in 1868, success for the casino was almost immediate.

For an article published in the New York Times in February 1877 titled Gambling at Monaco, the paper states: “At Monaco gambling is not only in fashion, it is at once the life and the occasion of life in the place. For it and in its name, were reared those handsome halls, mirrored and candelabra’d velvet-furnished and polished exceedingly as to floors and walls, which adjoin the Hotel de Paris and stand at the top of the enchanted garden." In a January 1896 article of Strand Magazine, Sir George Newnes reports Monsieur Blanc’s “often told” reaction to a casino patron winning many thousands of pounds: “(he) used to curl his lip with a disdainful smile and, looking at the apparently lucky gambler, say, ‘It will all come back’." Following Blanc’s mentality, the invention of the Jackpot in the 1930s created a huge demand for slot machines which, in turn, increased the number of players going to the casinos of Monte Carlo. The painter Francis Bacon, recalling his move to Monaco in 1946, spoke of the allure he felt: “I became very obsessed with the casino, and I spent whole days there. I used to think that I heard the croupiers calling out the number at roulette, the winning number before the ball had fallen into the sockets.”

The incoming revenue from the casinos were so great that Prince Charles III, eager to show the nation that his family were not directly benefiting from the profits, abolished income tax collection for each person. Instead of personal taxation, Charles III paid for all public affairs in Monaco with casino revenues. In fact, the Royal Family was so concerned with the public perception around the new casinos that Monegasque citizens (those local to Monaco) are allowed to enter the casinos but cannot gamble. This was designed to ensure that those living within Monaco would not be enticed to gamble away their money. More so, minors (under 18), priests, soldiers, and members of the Crown are barred from entering.

The shift in tax policy created a reliance on the tourism and banking industries which, at times, can leave Monaco especially vulnerable during economic depressions. Because of Monaco's grand casinos, tax haven status, and climate, Monaco life is known to be extravagant and expensive. The 2012 Wealth Report, published by Citi Bank, ranked Monaco number one in the worlds most expensive real estate with a cost of $5,400 per square foot; the Wealth Report also placed Monaco as the fourteenth most important global city. Adding to this image, the principality boasts eight Michelin stars, and the Prince's Private Collection of Antique Cars is a collection of almost 100 cars, carriages, and racing vehicles.

Security

Monaco, being smaller than the size of New York City's Central Park, does not maintain an official military presence, save the Guards of the Royal Palace. Though, of the four smallest European nations, Monaco is the only micro-state in Europe that has a formal defense agreement with it's all-surrounding France. When Monaco eventually sought admittance into the United Nations it had to do so with the strict obligation not to ally its territory with any power other than France. Also, the micro-state must make efforts to tailor its sovereignty to conform with France's political, economic, and military interests.

Another key aspect regarding the security of the principality has to do with the Grimaldi's line of succession. In 2002, there was a revision made to the constitution which opened up women of the Grimaldi family, and their legitimate children, to the line of succession. The exact wording of Chapter 2, Article 10 of the Constitution, as amended on April 2, 2002, claims: "The succession to the Throne, opened by death or abdication, takes place by the direct and legitimate issue of the reigning prince, by order of primogeniture with priority given to males within the same degree of kinship." This was, especially at the time around Prince Rainier III's death, an important matter of family preservation. Prince Albert, the son of Rainier III and Grace Kelly, was unmarried and without an heir. To ensure that Monaco would remain under Grimaldi rule, the necessary measures were taken to include the possibility of a women ruler so the possibility could remain open for one of Prince Albert's sisters, Caroline, Princess of Hanover, or Princess Stéphanie.