Did You Know? Archives

Boxers / Fight Promoters: Edward "Gunboat" Smith Casino (Reno, NV) Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Questions of Identity

1923 A new man in town was thought to be the famous Irish American boxer Edward “Gunboat” Smith. But when the City of Reno police arrested him as a suspect in a $310 ($4,500 today)…

Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Games / Races: Craps Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts United States

Quick Fact – “Floating Craps”

1953 The Sands hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada offered craps not poolside but in the pool! Photo from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Digital Collections

Did You Know? Gambling Gambling History Games / Races: Bridge Whist Gaming History Manila--Philippines Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Rabid Anti-Gamblers

1907 William Howard Taft (not yet the U.S. president) was in Manila, the Philippines on Secretary of War duties. His wife, Helen, or “Nellie,“ who’d accompanied him on the trip, was at a Saturday morning bridge…

Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Gambling: Charters Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts Searchlight--Nevada United States Willie Martello

Quick Fact – Desert Getaway

1961 This ad for the El Rey Club invited people to escape one sunny desert town (Palm Springs, California) for another (Searchlight, Nevada), as the enticement ran in the former’s newspaper, The Desert Sun. Owner Willie Martello began…

California Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Gambling: Bookmaking Gambling: Raids Gaming History Pasadena--California Quick Facts United States

Quick Fact – Moonlighting Gig Heats Up

1948 When Pasadena, California vice squad officers got a tip that chef/restaurant owner Paul B. Weston, 56, was sidelining as an illegal bookie, they raided his home and found gambling paraphernalia — where else? —…

Casa Vegas (Las Vegas, NV) Casino History Casino: Flying Did You Know? Gambling History Games / Races: Roulette Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts United States

Quick Fact – Flying Casino

1946 Owners of the Casa Vegas gambling club in Southern Nevada, Duke Wiley and Eddie Alias, announced their plan to acquire and convert a surplus, four-engine transport plane into a casino in the air. Slated…

Casino History Did You Know? Don and Bea Hawkins Gambling History Gambling License Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts United States Winnemucca--Nevada

Quick Fact – Women Banned

1962 The City of Winnemucca in Nevada had an ordinance that prohibited women from working in a casino in which they had some ownership. Bea Hawkins, who with her husband Don, owned the Ferris Hotel…

Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Gambling: Junkets Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts United States

Quick Fact – Casino Swindlers

1974 It was a successful scam that cheated the Aladdin Resort and Casino out of about $250,000 (about $1.2 million today) … while it lasted. Four men had some friends take junkets to the Las Vegas…

Boulder Club (Las Vegas, NV) Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts United States

Quick Fact – Any Place Will Do

1931 Using a gambling table as her dais, Canada-born evangelist, Mildred “Minnie” Kennedy, delivered fire and brimstone, revival-type sermons upstairs at the Boulder Club in Las Vegas from Aug. 23 to 30. A large sign…

Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts United States

Quick Fact – Pall of Mourning

1963 On the Monday after then President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Las Vegas casinos went dark for 17 hours, from 7 a.m. to midnight, in his honor. Along with the gaming rooms in all of…

Bobbie Gentry Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts United States William "Bill" F. Harrah

Quick Fact – Third Time’s A … Gamble

1969-1970 Casino magnate, William “Bill” F. Harrah, 58, married country artist, Bobbie Gentry, 27, in St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Reno, Nevada on December 18, 1969 with only members of the wedding party present. The…

Casino de Monte-Carlo (Monaco) Casino History Did You Know? Events: World War II Gambling History Gaming History Monaco Quick Facts Ships: HMS Sickle

Quick Fact – Miss and Hit

1943 The British submarine, HMS Sickle, fired a succession of torpedoes during World War II, in May, sinking an enemy vessel in Cape Ferrat, southeastern France. But one of the missiles hit a cliff in…