Quick Fact – Women, Oh, No!
1905 A Las Vegas, Nevada newspaper commented on the increasing popularity of gambling among ladies: “Gambling made fashionable among women is a rather serious matter. It is bad enough among men, but when the mania…
Quick Fact – Gutsy Granny
1972 A 71-year-old, wheelchair-bound, California grandmother, Susan Ellyn Reid, who had a long rap sheet and various aliases, entered Harrahs Club in Reno, Nevada in July carrying a box. She gave casino personnel a typed…
Quick Fact – Wild Justice
1890 Judge Beckley Campbell conducted court in a Benicia, California saloon. After hearing the evidence and deciding on a verdict in cases, he meted out punishments based on the result of tossing two dice in…
Quick Fact – Stevens’ Jewelry
1970 When Connie Stevens, entertainer, departed after a stay at the Kings Castle hotel-casino in Incline Village, Nevada, she accidentally left $20,000 ($122,000 today) worth of jewelry in her suite. Linda Cooley, a housekeeping team…
Did You Know?
Gambling
Games / Races: Chuck-a-luck
Games / Races: Fantan
Games / Races: Faro
Games / Races: Poker
Games / Races: Red-and-black
Games / Races: Rondo
Games / Races: Rouge-et-noir
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Gambling Feast
1887 A newspaper blurb touting the availability of gambling in Reno titled, A Feast for the Gamblers, read: “Those who delight in gambling sports can be accommodated in Reno … no less than thirty-one games…
Quick Fact – Holiday Dream
1961 Dick Seller boasted that, within a year, a new luxury gambling resort would be built 100 miles from civilization, on a 100-acre parcel he owned (and named Holiday) in Humboldt County in Nevada’s desert…
Did You Know?
Games / Races: Faro
George "Tex" Rickard
Goldfield Hotel (Goldfield, NV)
Nevada
Quick Facts
The Northern (Tonopah, NV)
Wyatt Earp
Quick Fact – Earp Myths
1905 Folklore has it that Wyatt Earp was the pit boss at The Northern in Goldfield, Nevada for George “Tex” Rickard, the proprietor. But it likely is false, according to Nevada historians, Jeffrey Kintop and Guy…
Quick Fact – Preacher Shill
1958 Reverend Maurice D. Tulloch, 50, a Kansas man, gave up his Baptist ministry for shilling in a Nevada casino. Feeling as though his life was suffocating him, a month earlier he’d walked out of…
Quick Fact – Slots Semantics
Today In the U.S. we call them slot machines and one-armed bandits. In Australia, they’re pokies. People in the United Kingdom call them fruit machines, or fruities. Other names? Photo from freeimages.com: by Tijmen van…
Gambling
It Really Happened
Nevada
Politicians / Politics: Elections
Politicians / Politics: Richard Nixon
Politicians / Politics: U.S. President John F. Kennedy
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Political Bets
1960 Bookies throughout Nevada had been taking wagers right and left on who’d win the upcoming U.S. presidential election — Senator John F. Kennedy (Dem.) or Vice President Richard Nixon (Rep.). Suddenly, in November, they…
Did You Know?
Gambling
Games / Races: Poker
It Really Happened
Quick Facts
Steamboat Springs (Reno, Nevada)
Virginia City--Nevada
Quick Fact – Steamboat Springs
1860s & 1870s In Virginia City, Nevada’s heyday, gold miners and magnates alike sought out R&R — gambling, hot springs soaking and dining — at the nearby Steamboat Springs resort south of Reno, a stop…
California
Did You Know?
Gambling
Gambling: Shills
Games / Races: Poker
Gardena--California
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Shill Losses
1952 When Ernest J. Primm owned the Monterey Club, a poker house in Gardena, California (a Los Angeles suburb), he claimed on his state income taxes the losses of his shills, up to $500 ($4,500 today) a…