The founding of the Wiesbaden Casino Society was approved on March 22, 1816 by Duke Friedrich August von Nassau as a society under Nassau law. Its purpose was to provide social entertainment, scientific information and cultural events.

Predecessor institutions included reading cabinets and reading museums, which were established in the 17th and 18th centuries and served the growing interest of the upper middle classes in information in all fields of knowledge by displaying books and periodicals. The court bookseller Ludwig (Louis) Schellenberg had already opened such a reading museum in Wiesbaden in 1805.

Increased efforts to found such associations arose from the spread of Enlightenment ideas before, but especially during and after the French Revolution of 1789. The awakening and growth of a German national consciousness may also have played a not insignificant role. The association initially planned in 1815 also exhibited such tendencies, but was therefore not approved by the Duke.

The name "Casino" comes from the Italian and goes back to the "casini". These were town or country houses of the nobility and later also of the bourgeois upper classes, which in the 17th and 18th centuries were used for social entertainment, especially gambling, festive meals, but also for political discussions in an inner circle. In the era of absolute monarchies, people were happy to discuss oppositional ideas or read relevant papers and writings without police supervision. The founding of such societies spread from Italy to the whole of Europe. In Germany, such associations sprang up all over the cities, including in neighboring towns such as Mainz, Koblenz and Trier.

Initially, many officers of the Nassau military and upper middle-class citizens were members of the Wiesbaden Casino Society. Women were excluded from membership. Over the years, the society developed more and more into an association of the dignitaries of Wiesbaden. Ernst Marschall von Bieberstein, the liberal politician August Hergenhahn (1804-1874), the ophthalmologist Alexander Pagenstecher (1828-1879), Baron von Dalwigk (1761-1825), Ludwig (Louis) Schellenberg (1772-1834), later also the various Lord Mayors of Wiesbaden, many merchants and the owners of large companies such as Dyckerhoff, Kalle or Henkell were among the prominent members. These initially met in the "Gasthaus zum Adler" and from 1836 in the "Schützenhof".

In 1855, the society bought the property of Mr. Wilhelm von Malapert in Friedrichstrasse and converted it into the "Old Casino". In 1872, it was decided to demolish it and build a new one, which was constructed in its current form by the end of 1874 according to plans by Wiesbaden architect Wilhelm Bogler. The Wiesbaden painter Kaspar Kögler painted the large ballroom, today's "Friedrich-August-Saal".

In 1939, the house was confiscated and used for National Socialist purposes. A bombing raid in October 1944 severely damaged the building. In 1945, the Americans and the German police took possession of the property and only partially released it again in 1950 and then in 1954. Major refurbishments and renovations in 1959, 1991 and 2005 brought the building to its current state.

The Wiesbadener-Casino-Gesellschaft currently has around 300 members, including many ladies following a change to its statutes. As a society that serves to provide information and entertainment, it has primarily set itself the task of enriching cultural life in Wiesbaden in the fields of music and literature as well as through special exhibitions.