First casinos in Argentina

How it all started: the club at the delta and the "Parisian" luxury

At the beginning of the 20th century, the social life of Buenos Aires shifted over the weekend to the town of Tigre at the mouth of Parana. Here in 1912 the Tigre Club opened - a spectacular palace in the style of French-Italian eclecticism (architects Pablo Pater and Louis Dubois; among financiers are Tornqvist and Emilio Mitre). Initially, it was an elitist meeting place, balls and concerts, conceived with the idea of ​ ​ a "club with a casino in a European way."

The casino in Tigre Club started working in 1927 and quickly became one of the most fashionable gaming halls in the country - until 1933, when a ban on the existence of casinos "so close to the capital" was adopted in the province of Buenos Aires. After that, the gambling hall was closed; later historians write that "the casino was moved to Mar del Plata." Today, the building houses the Museo de Arte Tigre.

Turning to the sea: the birth of the resort "capital" of gambling

The 1933 ban actually pushed the gambling industry to move to the Atlantic coast - to Mar del Plata, which also fit into the province's tourist plans. The symbol of the new era was the large-scale complex on the embankment - Casino Central and the Provincial Hotel, designed by Alejandro Bustillo. The casino was inaugurated on December 22, 1939; the ensemble is inspired by the coastal Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz and is still considered the architectural and tourist "postcard" of the city.

First points outside the capital and resort

In the 1940s-1960s, gambling infrastructure slowly diverged throughout the country as part of hotel and resort projects and city clubs. In the north, at the Iguazu waterfalls, a modern resort with a casino was formed later: Iguazú Grand as a hotel opened in 1998, and the independent Casino Iguazú (opened in July 1994) previously worked. These objects have woven the game into the region's natural tourism agenda.

In Patagonia, the city Casino de Bariloche has become the traditional "evening" anchor of Bariloche, complementing the resort's year-round activities (skiing, trekking, lakes). Although this is already a post-war wave, the logic itself - "casino as part of a tourist package" - inherits the Mar del Plata resort model.

Timeline of key events (pre-1950s)

1912 - opening of the Tigre Club building; the idea of ​ ​ a "club with a casino" for the elite in the Paraná Delta.

1927 - Launch of a casino inside the Tigre Club.

1933 - provincial ban on casinos near the capital; the closure of the hall in Tigray and the decline of the "delta" scene.

1938-1939 - Construction and opening of Casino Central in Mar del Plata (December 22, 1939). The architect is Alejandro Bustillo.

1950 - Launch of the Grand Provincial Hotel - a paired ensemble building on the waterfront.

Why exactly this is the geography of the "first" casinos

1. Law and politics. The 1933 ban "pushed" gambling from the near-capital periphery (Tigre) into tourist enclaves, where it was easier to build it into the economy of the season and urban branding.

2. Tourism as an engine. Mar del Plata was already a national beach resort then; the inclusion of the casino in the ensemble with the hotel and the embankment coincided with the course towards the development of "package" recreation.

3. Architecture and image. The Bustillo project gave the market a strong visual symbol - the European "resort" silhouette in the Atlantic, which today forms the appearance of the city and the flow of visitors.

The legacy of the "first" casinos today

Tigre Club transformed into Museo de Arte Tigre - from a luxurious roulette hall to a museum of Argentine art of the 20th century; the very fact of "casino in 1927-1933" remains an important part of the museum legend.

Casino Central is one of the largest and most recognizable gambling complexes in the country; the building is regularly restored and adapted to modern demand.

The resort model (resort + casino + hotel/events), which took shape in the 1939-1950s on the coast, was later replicated in Mendoza, Iguazu and Patagonia.

The origins of Argentina's casino industry are the elitist club world of Tigre (1912) and the short but vibrant casino chapter of 1927-1933, cut short by prohibition; then - the resort reincarnation in Mar del Plata with the opening of Casino Central (1939), which set the canon of "casino as part of a tourist product." This path - from the Paraná Delta to the Atlantic - explains why the country's most important gambling sites are still embedded in tourist destinations and urban symbols.

Relevance of sources: checked on October 12, 2025 (Europe/Kyiv).