In neighboring Mainz, for example, a public gambling house was established as early as 1425. The oldest known local concession was granted to a Wiesbaden citizen in 1771. A few years later, in 1782, roulette was introduced. From 1810 onwards, the game was housed in the newly built society building, the Kursaal.

After casinos were banned in France in 1837, the Wiesbaden casino gained international importance. Probably its most famous "guest" was Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, who visited Wiesbaden for the first time in 1862 and wrote his novel "The Gambler" in 1866. During his stays in Wiesbaden in 1865 and 1871, he gambled away all his money and felt compelled to write begging letters. At the end of 1872, the casino operations were shut down due to corresponding imperial and Prussian laws.

All attempts in the following decades to obtain another license for Wiesbaden failed. It was not until 1949 that a casino was reopened, initially in the foyer of the State Theater and since 1955 in the north wing of the Kurhaus.