Nevada

Mob That Controlled Early Reno Gambling: Who, How

1920s-1930s Presumably to gain money, power and notoriety, a small clique of men monopolized gambling in Reno, Nevada during the 1920s and 1930s through violence, payoffs, intimidation, threats and other gangster techniques. The industry mostly…

Quick Fact – Taking Stock

1974 The Nevada Gaming Commission, the industry’s state regulatory body, amended regulations to allow employees to own stock in a casino where they worked, without having to get a gambling license, a process that involved…

Quick Fact – Curiosity Trumps Motherhood

1931 When a Southern Pacific train stopped in Reno on a Friday in May at about 9:15 p.m., four passengers disembarked to squeeze in, before continuing on, a glance at gambling, which Nevada recently had…

1970s Gambling: England v. Nevada

1976 “Next time try London. The odds are better,” boasted a sign in the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas in 1976. The posting of this ad and possibly others resulted from an agreement between…

Quick Fact – Bygone Courtesy

1919 Outside many of Reno’s gambling saloons were benches, on which club-goers, typically men, whether or not they’d been gambling, were welcome to sleep the night. (At that time, some forms of gambling were legal…

Catching an Impromptu Show in Vegas

1958 Tourists Robert and Lola McDurmon may or may not have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on how you look at it. After taking in four shows on the Las…

Quick Fact – “Fun, Play and Gaiety”

1947 The Sonoma Inn hotel-casino debuted on May 27, 1947 at 185 W. Winnemucca Boulevard in Winnemucca in Northwestern Nevada, about halfway between Reno and Wells, likely named after the nearby Sonoma Range mountains. In…

Plan: Eject Mobsters from Nevada Gambling

1954 “If the Streeter suggestion should catch fire and the state took over gambling, it would be the damnedest experiment tried in the United States, and Nevada would have more hoodlums per square block than…

Quick Fact – Casino Discovery

1935 Singer and actress Judy Garland (neé Frances Ethel Gumm) was discovered while headlining with her two older sisters at the Cal-Neva Lodge at Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Theatrical agent Al Rosen was in the…

Casino Owner’s Offense Embarrasses Nevada

1988-1989 Tipped off by the contents of various lawsuits and complaints by employees, Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) agents raided the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino* on September 27, 1988. The 2,700-room property located on…

Quick Fact – So Done

1946 Mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s wife, Esta (née Esther Krakower) filed for divorce in Reno, Nevada after 17 years of marriage. The two had wed when she was 18 and he was 23. In the…

Vegas Casino Welshes on Paying Out

1958-1961 The Hacienda in Las Vegas, Nevada held an ongoing promotional contest at its golf course, which was widely advertised, even on the back of the postcard above. Participants would pay 50 cents (about $4.25 today) per…