Following abolishment of gambling in Nevada, a Los Angeles moving picture company purchased and shipped to California a carful of equipment outlawed in 1909, including roulette wheels, faro tables and chuck-a-luck games.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons: “Boule-Kessel” by Pierre Poquet

Chuck-a-luck cage

Today/1888

A “tinhorn gambler,” according to several dictionaries, refers to a game of chance operator who pretends to have money, ability or influence. The phrase is said to come from people who set up chuck-a-luck games with few funds and a cheap metal (versus leather) chute, called a horn — individuals whom faro dealers disparaged as being petty.

Yet, a 1908 Las Vegas Age article explains that “tin horn gambler” describes a player rather than operator, a low roller specifically, and originated in 1888 by Honorable James Orndorff who, while dealing in a gambling house on the Comstock Lode, told a patron betting small amounts, “You’re cheaper than a tin horn.”

Fantan

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 are in full blast.

“They comprise seven stud poker, two wheel games, one rouge-et-noir, one ichi ban, six faro, four rondo, two fantan, four chuck-a-luck, one Arabian pool, two forty-ball games and one red-and-black game” (Reno Evening Gazette, Sept. 27, 1887).

Photo from Art and Picture Collection, New York Public Library Digital Collections: “Chinese Fantan Game”

1940s

A spate of “roadside zoos” opened along various Nevada highways, typically in rural areas, during the late 1940s.

The owners were hustlers who lured unsuspecting tourists onto their grounds with the promise of seeing exotic birds, reptiles and/or wild animals then swindled them out of money via games of chance.

The ruse often involved the three-dice game chuck-a-luck or a variation thereof. Although uncommon in casinos, chuck-a-luck was legal, but “thieving and cheating games” weren’t (Nevada State Journal, April 1, 1945).

Chuck-a-luck’s odds greatly disfavored the players who, on average, lost more than they won — and that was with legitimate dice.

“A shill, posing as another tourist, usually draws the victim into the game which involves eight dice, a “contract” supposed to govern the same, a fast and not always accurate count of the dice by the operator, and a process by which the player loses all when he is no longer able to add to his stake,” explained the Reno Evening Gazette (May 23, 1947).

Numerous travelers complained to local officials about being fleeced at these places. The state governor, the attorney general and other officials despised these enterprises and wanted them eliminated as they stained Nevada’s reputation. The state legislature, in early 1947, passed a law prohibiting these fronts for games that victims couldn’t win, thinking that would eliminate them. However, Nevada police superintendent, Lester C. Moody, didn’t seem to be getting it done from a law enforcement standpoint.

They’re Baaaack. . .

But it didn’t; a minor alteration allowed the racket to continue. Owners simply switched their bait from animals to a museum, which was legal, and continued bilking visitors out of their cash. One such operator was Robert Lee Thomas, who ran such an establishment in Rhyolite off of Highway 95.

“Nevada, noted for its fair play, strong men and decisive action, is lying down while racketeers, most of them of unknown reputation, move in and take a haul of thousands of dollars a day from unsuspecting tourists,” wrote Paul F. Gardner (Nevada State Journal, June 1, 1947).

Victims kept complaining to city and state authorities. The allegations included:

• The racketeers told them they couldn’t stop playing and take their winnings but, instead, had to double up and keep on.

• When they’d protested, menacing men “roughly and threateningly” ejected them from the property (Nevada State Journal, June 1, 1947).

• When they’d said they intended to report them to the attorney general, the con artists warned them via veiled threats to keep quiet.

Mr. and Mrs. Fowler of Los Angeles, California, claimed they’d been taken for $15,500 in traveler’s checks (a $164,500 value today) at Ernest Dennison’s Emigrant Pass establishment on Highway 40 (Interstate 80 today). When the couple entered the place, they were cajoled, on the pretext it was legitimate, into playing Badger the Old Cowboy, a form of chuck-a-luck. In the game, the player throws eight dice hoping to make a high or low total score with them. 

A Palo Alto, California, man asserted he’d lost $60 while participating in a chuck-a-luck game at the Nevada Trading Post on Highway 40; Mr. and Mrs. Hill, Alameda, California, residents, lost $100 in a similar way.

Some victims found themselves without money to return home and wound up stranded.

Stricter policing — revoking the owner’s licenses or arresting those operating illegally — eventually eradicated these roadside con game joints for good.

Sources

1930

Silent film star, Clara Bow, spent one September evening in 1930 playing illegal gambling games at a Lake Tahoe, Nevada casino. Both winning and losing at roulette, craps, 21 and the dice game, chuck-a-luck, she requested a high roll. The Cal-Neva Lodge obliged, allowing her to play as high as $300 per roll or card.

When she was in the red for about $5,000, the casino manager, Elmer “Bones” M. Remmer implored her to stop, but she refused. Throughout the evening, she lost $13,900 (a $198,000 value today), which she covered with three checks.

Then she stopped payment on them.

Clearly, the red-haired siren hadn’t known whom she was tangling with at the Cal-Neva! The owners, James “Jim/Cinch” C. McKay and William “Bill/Curly” J. Graham, ran Reno then, controlling its illegal gambling trade (Nevada legalized open-wide gambling in 1931) and operating speakeasies, brothels and more. “Bones” was their trusted partner and enforcer who did whatever they asked.

“‘Bones’” rarely met a man he liked, or a meal he didn’t, and he was just as likely to finish either one off,” wrote Al Moe in “Roots of Reno.”

If Bow hadn’t been a star, she might’ve been physically harmed or worse for stiffing the casino.

Another Ballsy Move

At the time, gambling was mostly illegal at the time. Some games were allowed—poker, stud-horse poker, five hundred, solo and whist—along with slot machine play only for the sales of cigars and drinks and social games only played for drinks and cigars served individually or prizes not exceeding two dollars in value.  As such, the casino’s owners couldn’t sue Bow for the money she owed. McKay tried to get her movie studio, Paramount, to cover the debt, but its executives refused, saying it was the actress’ personal matter.

Soon after, Bow issued a statement about the matter. She claimed the casino lacked a “rightful claim” against her, insinuating it had cheated her, charging her for $100 chips when she’d played with 50-cent pieces and changing the amount on her checks.

“I will gladly accept service of any legal documents,” she said. “I always pay every honest debt promptly” (Reno Evening Gazette, Sept. 24, 1930).

The Cal-Neva’s attorney refuted her accusations, calling them ludicrous. He noted that Bow had cashed the checks with the casino, which gave her the money upfront to use as she wished.

Bow never paid what she owed.

Sources