Quick Fact – Playboy Casino
1971 Adult magazine publisher Hugh Hefner announced to the media that in two years’ time, Nevada would be home to a Playboy casino in either Las Vegas or on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore. It didn’t…
Quick Fact – Reno Flood
1950 The Truckee River in downtown Reno, Nevada overflowed, the raging waters swelling high enough to deluge nearby businesses. One was the Riverside hotel, where 4-plus feet of water amassed in the casino, restaurant and lobby.…
Gambling
Gambling: Shills
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Gaming Commission
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Gaming Control Board
It Really Happened
Nevada
Rolo Casino (Reno, NV)
Gambling Decoys: Shills, Proposition Players
1947-1979 “Neat appearing girls from 21 to 25 to shill and learn to deal games at Rolo Casino, 14 E. Commercial Row,” read a Help Wanted ad in the Nevada State Journal (June 6, 1947). A shill,…
Casino History
Casino: Bankruptcies
Casino: Corporations: Club Cal-Neva Inc.
Casino: Corporations: Spinning Wheel Corp.
Clifford Jones
Club Cal-Neva (Reno, NV)
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Tax Evasion
Earl Snyder
Gambling History
Gaming History
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Internal Revenue Service
It Really Happened
James "Jim" Contratto
Joe Wells
Marion Hicks
Nevada
Saddle Club (Las Vegas, NV)
Sanford Adler
Silver Palace (Las Vegas, NV)
Tahoe Biltmore (Crystal Bay, NV)
United States
IRS Swoops Down on Casino Cash
1955-1956 At 9:15 a.m. on Friday, November 11, 1955, eight U.S. IRS agents entered the Club Cal-Neva in Reno, Nevada, demanding payment of $65,000 (about $600,000 today) in overdue withholding and excise taxes. When the…
Cal Vada (Lake Tahoe, NV)
Cal-Neva Lodge (Lake Tahoe, NV)
Games / Races: Bingo
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Tax Commission
It Really Happened
Nevada
Casinos in Bingo Trouble
1954 A brouhaha over bingo made it a memorable year for gambling at Lake Tahoe. To lure as many tourists as possible into their casinos, numerous operators offered big-ticket prizes for winners at summer’s end…
Beausoleil--France
Casino History
Did You Know?
Europe
Events: World War I
France
Games / Races: Baccarat
Games / Races: Petits-chevaux
Gaming History
Le Casino Municipal de Beausoleil (Beausoleil, France)
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Put Into Service
1907-1918 In 1918, the United States Army requisitioned Le Casino Municipal de Beausoleil, in France on its border with Monaco, for a YMCA center for World War I infantrymen on leave. In the main former…
Archie Sneed
Casino History
Crimes / Violence / Punishments
Elmer West
Ernest "Ernie" J. Primm
Events: World War II
Frank Richardson
Gambling History
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Joseph Hall
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Lawsuit
Military
Nevada
Palace Club (Reno, NV)
United States
Lawsuit: You Won’t Get Away With It
1945-1946 Alfred E. Cushman entered the Palace Club, in uniform, shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 11, 1945. Prior to that, the recently discharged U.S. Army veteran participated in the Armistice Day parade in…
Casino History
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Cheating / Fleecing: Holdouts
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Murder
Francis Leo Luckett
Gambler (Operators/Players): Card Sharps
Gambling History
Games / Races: 21 / Blackjack
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Nevada
Reno--Nevada
Tip Club (Reno, NV)
United States
Ace of Spades Defeats Card Sharp
1930 Cheating at gambling in the early 20th century in Nevada could land a person in serious trouble. That’s exactly what happened to Francis Leo Luckett, 28. A Pennsylvania native, he’d been in Reno by…
Andrew Jackson "Jack" Blackman
Bank Club (Reno, NV)
Casino History
Folsom State Prison (CA)
Gambling History
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Lawsuit
Nevada
Town House (Reno, NV)
United States
Shakedown in Reno Escalates (Part 2)
1944-1945 The trial of Andrew Jackson “Jack” Blackman, free on $10,000 bail, began in April 1945, six months after he’d fatally shot James Lannigan in the Bank Club in Reno, Nevada. District Attorney Melvin E. Jepson, in…
Andrew Jackson "Jack" Blackman
Bank Club (Reno, NV)
Casino History
Gambling History
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Nevada
Town House (Reno, NV)
United States
Walter Parman
Shakedown in Reno Escalates (Part 1)
1944-1945 A thug’s confrontation of a casino owner on October 30, 1944 radically altered both of their lives. Andrew Jackson “Jack” Blackman, co-proprietor of the Town House gambling saloon* in Reno, left his business for…
Bartley "Bart" J. Smithson
Casino History
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Murder
Ely--Nevada
Gambling History
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Officer Herbert "Burt" D. Long
Nevada
Palace Club (Ely, NV)
United States
Gambler Destroys the Peace … Officer
1932 At about 4:30 on a Sunday morning, a drunk Bartley “Bart” J. Smithson was target practicing in the Palace Club, shooting at a spittoon and a silver dollar with a 0.38 Smith & Wesson…
Canada
Casino History
Did You Know?
Fallsview Casino (Niagara Falls, Ontario)
Gambling History
Gaming History
Niagara Falls--Ontario
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – A Natural View
Today In Ontario, Canada, the appropriately named gambling resort — Fallsview Casino — overlooks Horseshoe Falls, one of the three gushing cascades that comprise Niagara Falls.