The Blanc brothers: from Bad Homburg to Monte Carlo

François and Louis Blanc were twins, born on 12 December 1806 in Courthézon. In 1840 they signed a thirty-year contract with Landgrave Philipp of Hesse-Homburg: German Wikipedia, citing the casino, gives the date as 19 July 1840, while the French encyclopaedia Universalis says simply "July 1840". The brothers undertook to build a Kurhaus and a park and to pay an annual fee. That is the pattern of the German spa casino: a gaming concession in return for a resort (see why casinos sit in spa towns).

Homburg, 1841

The casino opened on 23 May 1841, according to the casino's own history. The first premises were provisional, a branch in the Brunnensälchen (built 1838) and a main house in the Anhaltische Häuser. The first Kurhaus, built 1841–43 to plans by Métivier, took the casino in 1843. The park followed: a plan by the garden architect Peter Joseph Lenné, begun in 1854–55 and carried out by Gustav Meyer. The city today gives the Kurpark about 47 hectares; other sources say 44. Louis Blanc died in 1852 according to English Wikipedia and in 1854 according to Universalis, so even that date is disputed, but on either date he can have had little to do with the park. Calling it a creation "for the Blancs" overstates the case.

Monaco

On 2 April 1863 a decree gave Blanc a fifty-year concession in Monaco, and the Société des Bains de Mer was created that spring. The Hôtel de Paris followed in 1864 and the name "Monte Carlo" dates from 1 June 1866. It is tempting to say that Blanc founded Monte Carlo, but gambling in Monaco came first: a casino is reported there in 1856 (Villa Bellevue; Wikipedia marks that as needing a citation), and the Spélugues casino opened in February 1863 to little interest, after which the Monaco operators turned to Blanc, as Mark Braude tells it in Making Monte Carlo. Blanc made the place a success; he did not start it. A local blog dates his move to 1862, but the company's own history contradicts it.

The city's tourist material calls Bad Homburg the "mother of Monte Carlo". That is a marketing nickname, not a historical finding.

The single-zero wheel: disputed

The most repeated claim is that the Blancs introduced a roulette wheel with a single zero in Bad Homburg, in contrast with the double-zero wheels elsewhere. English Wikipedia gives 1843, and the date carries a "citation needed" tag. German Wikipedia, citing a newspaper feature, says only that the brothers dropped the double zero and gives no date. We found no casino record or contemporary guide that dates the Homburg wheel. What is documented is marketing: in Monaco, Blanc had newspapers publicise that the roulette there had "one zero less". The story that the numbers on the wheel add up to 666 and that Blanc made a pact with the devil is a legend. So we do not say that Blanc invented or refined the single-zero wheel; we say that a single-zero wheel is associated with him, and that the evidence for when it first appeared at Homburg is thin.

The end of the first casino

Prussia annexed Hesse-Homburg in 1866 (treaty of 3 September). The imperial ban on public casinos took effect on 1 January 1873, and the Homburg tables closed on 31 December 1872, with play continuing until 23:00. François Blanc died on 27 July 1877. The casino reopened on 7 April 1949 under Hermann Heidtmann, again in the Brunnensälchen.

What to see today

The Spielbank Bad Homburg stands in the Kurpark at Kisseleffstraße 35. In the park you will also find the Russian church (cornerstone 1896, consecrated 1899) and the Thai Sala: the city says King Chulalongkorn took the cure in Bad Homburg in 1907, that the first Sala was inaugurated in 1914, and that a second was given for the 100th anniversary in 2007. The casino is 18+, charges €2.50 for the classic games and offers a loan jacket; the Bad Homburg dossier has the rest.