blackjack Archives

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

Quick Fact – Cha-Ching!

1936 An $11,800 gambling win (about $205,000 today) was the largest ever in Las Vegas to that point. The payout went to a man named A. “Blacksmith” Sweitzer after playing 21 (blackjack) for two hours, starting…

Gambling Games / Races: Poker Horseshoe Club / Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel (Las Vegas, NV) It Really Happened The Ramada Hotel Casino (Reno, NV) United States Virginia City--Nevada

The Faro Fadeaway

1825-1958 The hottest game in the Old West between 1825 and 1915, faro is pretty much extinct in the United States today. If you’ve never heard of it — and you aren’t alone there —…

00 (Double-0) Club (Las Vegas, NV) Arcade (Las Vegas, NV) Arizona Club (Las Vegas, NV) Block 16--Nevada California Hotel-Casino (Las Vegas, NV) Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Murder Gambling Games / Races: Craps Games / Races: Faro Games / Races: Poker Games / Races: Roulette Gem (Las Vegas, NV) It Really Happened Prohibition Red Onion (Las Vegas, NV) Sin City Star (Las Vegas, NV) Turf (Las Vegas, NV)

Block 16: Sin City’s Early Days

1905-1941 Imagine in the early 1900s, a block about the length of a football field, in the Mojave Desert in Nevada where gambling, drinking and prostitution prevailed free from law enforcement’s intrusion, and where fights…

Did You Know? Palms Casino Resort (Las Vegas, NV) Playboy Club (Las Vegas, NV) Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Playboy Casino

1971 Adult magazine publisher Hugh Hefner announced to the media that in two years’ time, Nevada would be home to a Playboy casino in either Las Vegas or on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore. It didn’t…

Gambling Gambling Currency: Coins Games / Races: Panguingue Games / Races: Poker Games / Races: Roulette Games / Races: Tonk It Really Happened Nevada

Gambling in the Pokey

1932-1967 Inmates strutted around the Nevada State Prison yard and jingled the brass coins or tokens, in their pockets, to boast their elevated status as winning gamblers of the pen. Beginning in 1932, convicts ran…

California Casino History Gambling Gambling History Gambling: Assistance Devices Games / Races: Creators / Manufacturers: Bob Bamford / Joe Alper Gaming History It Really Happened Nevada Pasadena--California Sahara (Las Vegas, NV) United States

“Electronic Brain Upsets Vegas Blackjack Dealers”

1960 “Las Vegas seemed to be both fascinated and frightened by the little computing machine,” reported Ray Duncan in the Independent Star-News (Dec. 5, 1960). The referenced device, via a dial on its front, advised…