1964 map of Gold Hill and Devils Gate mining districts, Nevada Territory

1859

Before Nevada became a state (1864), a few hundred miners at Gold Hill — in what then was the Territory of Utah — passed some anti-crime laws.

One forbade gambling:  “No Banking games, under any consideration shall be allowed in this district under the penalty of final banishment from the District,” according to the Territorial Enterprise.

Photo from the University of Nevada, Reno Special Collections: by I.E. James

1954

Due to the 1953 scandal in Wells, Nevada, the state tax commissioners in June 1954 prohibited open gambling in the town of Jackpot, just south of the Nevada-Idaho border along U.S. Route 93.

They worried that gambling 1) couldn’t be policed easily in that remote area and 2) might cause resentment among Twin Falls residents because Idaho had outlawed its only legal gambling — slot machines — earlier that year.

In July, Nevada banned gambling, too, in Wells (further south on the 93).