1861-present

Since becoming a U.S. territory, Nevada has undergone periods of full, partial and no legalization of gambling. Here’s a timeline of what types of games of chance legislators allowed or disallowed and when:

1861: GAMBLING ABOLISHED: The initial Nevada Territorial Legislature banned the dealing, running, opening, conducting or playing of any game of faro, monte, roulette, lansquenet or rouge et noir or any banking game (where the player bets against the house) played with cards, dice or any other device for anything of value.

1865: Anti-gaming law reiterated: In the first legislative session after Nevada joined the Union in 1864, lawmakers replaced the territorial law with a state statute outlining a similar ban.

1869: Gaming partially legalized: Nevada legalized only the games outlawed in 1861 and mandated operators be licensed.

1873: Lotteries prohibited: Lawmakers banned lotteries, which were defined as any scheme for the disposal or distribution of property, by chance, among paying players.

1875: Additional games legalized: The legislature approved keno, fantan, 21, Diana, and red white and blue.

1885: Legal/illegal games changed: An amendment allowed stud-horse poker, or percentage, with a license. It outlawed roulette.

1901: Slots deemed illegal: The state prohibited the playing or offering of nickel-in-the-slot machines or similar devices.

1903: Bookmaking allowed with license: A new act made it legal, with appropriate licensure, to engage in, conduct or carry on any bookmaking on horse races, prize fights or any games conducted outside of the state.

1905: Slots deemed legal: The state repealed the anti-slots law, thereby legalizing them with required licensure.

1910: GAMBLING ABOLISHED: The anti-gambling act went into effect at midnight Sept. 30, 1910. It disallowed all gambling mentioned in prior acts and amendments along with tan, fantan, seven and a half, hokey pokey, craps, klondike, whist, bridge whist, five hundred, solo and frog.  It also forbade any gambling games in which the operator, for making the game available, received compensation or reward or a share of the money or property wagered. It banned offering or playing slot machines along with all kinds of bookmaking.

1915: Some gambling excepted: The legislature legalized poker; stud-horse poker; five hundred; solo; whist; parimutuel betting on horse races; slot machines for the sales of cigars and drinks; and social games only played for drinks and cigars served individually or prizes up to $2 in value.

“Gambling on casino or old maid is a serious crime, a felony,” noted the Nevada State Journal (Sept. 28, 1930). “But on poker or solo or whist it is all right. Betting on a dog race is felonious, but the same bet on a horse race is clothed with the sanctity of the law.”

1931: WIDE-OPEN GAMBLING LEGALIZED: Lawmakers passed a liberal gaming law that remains in effect today, which legalized all forms of gambling except lotteries and which required licensing of operators. Along with slot machines, the law listed the approved games: faro, monte, roulette, keno, fantan, twenty-one (blackjack), seven and a half, big injun, klondike, craps, stud poker and draw poker. The law permitted slot machines; any banking or percentage game played with cards, dice or any mechanical device or machine; and any game in which the operator receives compensation or reward. It also removed the rules surrounding social games.

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1934

After Nevada legalized gambling in 1931, a faction opposed to the industry fought to have it eradicated.

“A group of Nevada citizens felt there was a growing protest against the injury being done our state by gambling — not only because of the evil done in depriving needy citizens of their depressed earnings without compensation but because our state was being exploited politically and socially and its good name was being smirched by this evil,” reported the Nevada State Journal (July 4, 1934).

With a 24-to-6 vote, the 1933 legislature rejected a proposed anti-gambling law, thereby leaving a vote on the issue to the electorate. The antis generated a petition that, with valid signatures of 10 percent of the population, would get a referendum to repeal the gambling law on the November 1934 general election ballot. Whereas 2,952 names were needed, volunteers from around the state captured 3,027.

Revealing Results

Formal submission of the petition spurred a contingency of businessmen on the other side of the issue to take action, too. They were T.M. Carol, E.W. Craigen, Eugene Ward, Richard Rochl, Will Beckley, Arthur Brick and R.W. Thomas — of Las Vegas — and Ben Rotholtz, Ed O’Brien, J.N. Pedersen, A.C. Pedersen, and Frank Corsiglia — of Reno.

They claimed to represent all those who approved of gambling due to the revenue it generated for the state and argued that legally banning it simply would drive it underground.

They hired attorneys Lester D. Summerfield and Harlan Heward to represent them and investigate the petition’s validity.

Examination of the names revealed that 266 were fake, 47 were duplicates and 13 were illegible. In a number of instances, various signatures bore the same handwriting, and “Mr. and Mrs.” signatures were signed by only one of the two people. These illegitimate entries dropped the total below what was required.

Claiming fraud, Summerfield filed for an injunction in June to stop Nevada Secretary of State William Greathouse from submitting the proposed anti-gambling law to voters. The judge scheduled the trial for late July.

Conceding The Round

A few weeks later though, the anti-gambling faction announced it was standing down but would launch a new effort. It believed it was best to use its funds to circulate a new petition, one that would withstand scrutiny, rather than try to verify the challenged names.

“Opponents of gambling make it clear that they have not abandoned their fight and they express the utmost confidence that the people of Nevada would outlaw gambling if they were able to get the issue before them,” reported the Nevada State Journal (July 4, 1934).

Contrary to what they purported, the next legislative session came and went without the anti-gambling contingent circulating another petition. Today, more than 80 years later, those opposed to gambling in Nevada have failed to overturn the law.

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