casino Archives

Big Hat (Las Vegas, NV) Casino History Crimes / Violence / Punishment: Duel Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Firearms Gambling Gambling History Gambling License Gaming History It Really Happened Nevada Sam Baker United States

The Duel at Big Hat

1948 Arthur T. Morgan belligerently stormed into the Big Hat casino on Highway 91 (outside Las Vegas, Nevada) at about 1:30 a.m. on a Friday night in spring. He immediately began heckling, threatening to shoot…

A.A. Baroni Block N (Reno, NV) Casino History Elite Cigar Store (Reno, NV) Gambling Gambling Currency Gambling History Gaming History It Really Happened Nevada Nevada Committee on Good Laws Overland Hotel (Reno, NV) Washoe Lunch Counter (Reno, NV)

The Truth Lies Within

1925 As of 1915, Nevada gambling law only allowed slot machines that discharged tokens, or bingles, exchangeable for on-site merchandise; those that paid out in money or bingles redeemable for currency were forbidden. “The fact…

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

Quick Fact – Out of Time

1936 A thief took the trouble of entering a Los Angeles, California café through a skylight to rob the slot and marble games. But instead of getting the heck out after that was successful, he…

Apache Hotel (Las Vegas, NV) Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel Casino History Continental Press Service (Chicago, IL) Dave Stearns Ed Margolis El Dorado Club (Las Vegas, NV) Gambling History Gambling: Race Wire Games / Races: Horse Racing Gaming History Golden Nugget Race Wire (Las Vegas, NV) It Really Happened Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Clark County Sheriff Glen Jones--Nevada Laws: Federal Communications Act Meyer Lansky Moe Sedway Morris Rosen Nevada Sam Stearns Santa Anita Turf Club (Las Vegas, NV) Sin City United States

Mysterious Horse Racing Broadcast

1948-1950 In between dispatch orders, a Las Vegas, Nevada taxi driver fleetingly picked up the announcement of horse racing information on his cab radio one day in mid-October, 1948. He informed Clark County Sheriff Glen…

Casino History Did You Know? Gambling Gambling History Gambling: Dice Gaming History Geographical Areas Nevada Ponderosa (Reno, NV) Quick Facts United States

Quick Fact – Gambling Debut Delay

1967 When the owners of the Ponderosa — Reno, Nevada’s newest major hotel (at 515 S. Virginia Street, now the Wild Orchid) — were about to debut gambling, with a celebratory first throwing of the dice, they ran into…

Cactus Pete's (Jackpot, NV) Casino History Diamond Jim's (Jackpot, NV) Elko--Nevada Gambling History Gambling: Revenue Gaming History Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Gaming Control Board Horshu Club (Jackpot, NV) It Really Happened Jackpot--Nevada Nevada Tex's Gateway (Jackpot, NV) The 93 (Jackpot, NV) Twin Falls--Idaho United States

Gambling Affront: Elko Disses Jackpot

1960 When one rural Nevada town grew into a gambling hot spot in the mid-1900s, the gamblers in another loudly grumbled. Soon after Idaho outlawed slot machines, its last vestige of legal gambling, the sagebrush-…

Casino History Did You Know? Gambling Gambling History Gaming History Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Behind the Word “Casino”

Today A casino is a place that houses and facilitates various gambling forms, according to the English, but a casino or kasino is an officers’ mess hall to the Germans, Spanish and others. In Italian,…

Casino History Did You Know? El Rey Club (Searchlight, NV) Gambling History Gaming History Quick Facts Searchlight--Nevada Willie Martello

Quick Fact – The Customer is an Ass

1947-1962 A wild burro sauntered into the popular gambling spot, the El Rey Club in Searchlight, Nevada at about 11 o’clock every morning. It approached the proprietor, Willie Martello, who always fed it something he…

Casino History Did You Know? Gambling History Games / Races: Roulette Gaming History Nevada Quick Facts Raymond A. Smith

Quick Fact – Mice and Men

1936 Soon after Harolds Club opened in Reno, the main attraction, for only about a week, was mouse roulette, “where customers bet their small change on what color or number a scampering rodent would choose…

It Really Happened James Mann / Bernard Louvre Saloon (Goldfield, NV) Oberon (Reno, NV) United States Wieland Saloon (Reno, NV)

Gambler’s Drunken Stupidity

1904-1905 Criminal drama occurred between two men late one November morning in the Wieland saloon in Reno, Nevada in 1904. James Mann, a Wyoming man who sometimes worked in Silver State gambling clubs — the…

Did You Know? Gambling: Dice Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Chinese Dice Peculiarities

Today Chinese dice differ from traditional dice in two ways: • The spots for numbers 1 and 4 are painted red. • The number 1 spot is larger and more deeply etched than all others. Anyone…

Gambling Games / Races: Keno Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Gaming Control Board Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Gaming Control Board: Ed Olsen It Really Happened Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Lawsuit Robert Van Santen United States

Bilking of Vegas’ Nevada Club

1961-1966 Early in 1961, Michael Catrone, 60, an apartment complex owner, presented to the Nevada Club in Las Vegas a winning keno ticket for $25,000 ($198,000 today). Yet the casino’s general manager didn’t pay it…