gambling history

Quick Fact – Out of Thin Air

1964 When dealer Lue Dennis exited her work, Harolds Club casino, a man descended and hit the pavement in front of her. Reno resident, John Nahirney, age 79, had fallen from the Nevada casino’s fire…

Unexpected Cost at New Orleans Gambling Raid

1953 On a weeknight in May, Louisiana state policemen surrounded a high-end home in the New Orleans suburbs. One of them knocked on a secret side door that contained a one-way glass window, allowing those…

Quick Fact – Beano v. Bingo

1944 “Are you in favor of banning beano when played for prizes?” This was one of Massachusetts’ 1944 ballot questions. By the 1940s, beano — played with beans as markers, hence the name, and popular on…

Topless Dealers: Brainchild of Nevada Casino

1966 The Silver Nugget casino announced it would debut topless, female, 21 (blackjack) dealers during the midnight to 8 a.m. shift. This, too, was the gist of the complaints the Nevada attorney general (A.G.) received…

Quick Fact – Kefauver in Hot Springs

1924 Senator Carey “Estes” Kefauver (D-Tenn.), the driving force behind rooting out illegal gambling and organized crime in the United States in the 1950s with his famous eponymous committee, decades earlier had taught math and…

Wealthy Californians Frequent Illegal Lake Tahoe Casino

1902-1927 Touted as “the finest clubhouse west of the Rocky Mountains,” the Casino at Tallac debuted at Lake Tahoe’s South Shore in California in July 1902 despite gambling having been illegal in the state since…

Quick Fact – Gambling Trip Turns Dicey

1957 In 1957, Club Primadonna chartered passengers to and from San Francisco to the Reno, Nevada casino on “champagne tours.” On the September 28 return flight, delayed from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. due to…

“Dice Girl” Rolls Horrendous Fate

1943 In the mid-afternoon of Tuesday, February 2, 1943, smoke emanating from a third-story apartment in Lakeview, Illinois led to the discovery of a woman dead inside — her face, head and neck mutilated, her…

Quick Fact – Good Things Come in 3s

1963 On his third spin of the roulette wheel, having bet on the number 17, actor/producer Sir Sean Connery won, not just once, but thrice … in a row. With this wager, he raked in…

Criminals, Money Problems Plague Reno Casino

1940-1943 The Barn Club casino’s existence during World War II was rocky and, therefore, cut short. It began in December 1940, when Jack Fugitt, an entertainment machine business owner, and Walter Oswald, assumed the lease…

Quick Fact – Aptly Named

1995-Today The casino name, Avi, translates into “money” or “loose change” in the language of the Mojave tribe, whose members own it. Uniquely located geographically, Avi Resort & Casino is on the Fort Mojave Reservation,…

Wily Desperado Falls Short on Crime Execution

1943 Two acquaintances were having a drink at a Reno casino bar — Miles T. Ellis, 47, a tourist, and Anthony Swiderski, 52, a local chef in the Northern Nevada town. At an opportune moment,…