Quick Fact – Cattle Drive
1963 Because another route wasn’t available, in August, ranchers drove more than 200 cattle through the casino section of Stateline, Nevada, located at Lake Tahoe’s South Shore, en route to the bovines’ summer range in the…
Cal Vada (Lake Tahoe, NV)
Cal-Neva Lodge (Lake Tahoe, NV)
Games / Races: Bingo
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Tax Commission
It Really Happened
Nevada
Casinos in Bingo Trouble
1954 A brouhaha over bingo made it a memorable year for gambling at Lake Tahoe. To lure as many tourists as possible into their casinos, numerous operators offered big-ticket prizes for winners at summer’s end…
Quick Fact – Wheel Woods
Early 1900s Manufacturer B.C. Wills & Co. crafted roulette wheels out of one or more woods — boxwood, ebony, rosewood, walnut, Honduras mahogany or satin wood — that were seasoned and kiln dried in a…
Casino History
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Cheating / Fleecing: Holdouts
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Murder
Francis Leo Luckett
Gambler (Operators/Players): Card Sharps
Gambling History
Games / Races: 21 / Blackjack
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Nevada
Reno--Nevada
Tip Club (Reno, NV)
United States
Ace of Spades Defeats Card Sharp
1930 Cheating at gambling in the early 20th century in Nevada could land a person in serious trouble. That’s exactly what happened to Francis Leo Luckett, 28. A Pennsylvania native, he’d been in Reno by…
Casino History
Did You Know?
Gambling
Gambling Currency: Canteen Coupons
Gambling History
Gaming History
Iowa
Iowa State Penitentiary
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Clink Gambling
1936 To better understand the experience, Judge Harry D. Landis of Seward, Nebraska purposefully spent 10 summer days, undercover as an inmate, in the Iowa State Penitentiary (since closed). After, when he publicly reported his assessment…
Artists / Designers: Pierre de Régnier (aka Tigre)
Casino History
Did You Know?
Gambling
Gambling History
Gambling: Art
Games / Races: Baccarat
Gaming History
Nice--France
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Depiction of French Gamblers
1931 The Big Baccarat Table in Nice (France) was sketched by cartoonist, Pierre de Régnier, aka Tigre (1898-1943), and ran in newspapers with this description: “From left to right: Mme. Ephrussi, the French multimillionaire widow…
Casino History
Europe
Gambling
Gambling Currency: Dominoes
Gambling Currency: Pebbles
Gambling Currency: Wooden Cocks (Roosters)
Gambling History
Games / Races: Poker
Games / Races: Roulette
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Poland
Poland Seizes on Gambling
1913 During this year, the tail end of the second wave of massive Polish emigration, about 3.5 million people, primarily peasants from poor rural provinces, was taking place. Looming on the horizon was the outbreak…
Beldon Katleman
Casino History
Did You Know?
Gambling
Gambling History
Gaming History
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Tax Commission
Nevada
Quick Facts
United States
Quick Fact – Shoddy Accounting
1956 When auditors for Nevada reviewed its books, they discovered the El Rancho casino on the Las Vegas Strip had underpaid the requisite gambling taxes over nine quarters by $39,000 ($350,500 today). Despite the claims…
California
Casino History
Gambling
Gambling History
Gambling: Bucket Shopping
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Lawsuit
San Francisco--California
Bucket Shopper’s Dogged Fight
1911-1912 A San Francisco, California ordinance outlawed bucket shopping in 1911 — no longer was running or visiting such an enterprise legal — and one operator didn’t like it. Henry A. Moss, a bucket shop owner and…
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
Casino History
Did You Know?
Gambling History
Gaming History
Nevada
Quick Facts
United States
Quick Fact – Bugsy Siegel’s Hidden Safe
1972 Twenty-six years after the gangland assassination of mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and his debut of the Flamingo in Las Vegas, a trap door was discovered in one of the hotel-casino’s offices when the carpet…
Casino History
Gambling
Gambling History
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: MT Judge Everton J. Conger
Montana
Politicians / Politics: U.S. President Chester A. Arthur
United States
Montana Judge Punished for Legal Gambling
1883-1884 A gambling affinity, in part, did in Everton J. Conger’s career as associate justice of the Territory of Montana. President Chester A. Arthur suspended him in March 1883. Conger had served three years in…
California
Casino History
Did You Know?
Gambling History
Gambling: Bookmaking
Gambling: Raids
Gaming History
Pasadena--California
Quick Facts
United States
Quick Fact – Moonlighting Gig Heats Up
1948 When Pasadena, California vice squad officers got a tip that chef/restaurant owner Paul B. Weston, 56, was sidelining as an illegal bookie, they raided his home and found gambling paraphernalia — where else? —…