Quick Fact – Dice Mice
Early 1900s In The Silver State (Nevada), casinos hired men for the sole job of picking up dice that rolled off the game tables. Only these workers were allowed to touch the cubes to keep cheaters…
Quick Fact – Hankow Fire
1928 Countless people died and an estimated 10,000 people lost their homes due to a ferocious fire started in a gambling den that razed a major street in the heavily populated city of Hankow, China.…
Quick Fact – Gambling Hours
1889 Nevada passed a law mandating that gambling houses couldn’t open any earlier than 6 a.m. and couldn’t close any later than midnight. The sentence for violation was a $200 to $500 fine and/or 30…
Quick Fact – WPA Mandate
1937 The director of the Works Progress Administration, the New Deal agency that employed individuals to construct public works projects, informed all Nevada workers that it wouldn’t tolerate “gambling, drinking or other unnecessary expenditure” and…
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.…
Quick Fact – Tips Taxable
1976 The Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California ruled any tips, or tokes, that individuals give to casino dealers is a form of taxable income. Photo from freeimages.com: “Batch of Dollars” by…
Quick Fact – Cuban Right
1958 To crush subversive or revolutionary activity, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista suspended for 45 days all constitutional guarantees in the country, including the right to public assembly. Yet, he allowed gambling operations to continue. Photo…
Casino History
Crimes / Violence / Punishments
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Cheating / Fleecing: Holdouts
Did You Know?
Gambling
Gambling History
Gaming History
Nevada
Quick Facts
United States
Quick Fact – He Who Cheats First …
1938 During a preliminary hearing on the felony charge of using a cheating device while playing cards at a Las Vegas gambling house, Walter Eccles of Los Angeles explained that he’d used a holdout worn…
Quick Fact – Cattle Drive
1963 Because another route wasn’t available, in August, ranchers drove more than 200 cattle through the casino section of Stateline, Nevada, located at Lake Tahoe’s South Shore, en route to the bovines’ summer range in the…
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…
Quick Fact – Wheel Woods
Early 1900s Manufacturer B.C. Wills & Co. crafted roulette wheels out of one or more woods — boxwood, ebony, rosewood, walnut, Honduras mahogany or satin wood — that were seasoned and kiln dried in a…