Terror at Casino de Monte-Carlo
1880 British and French patrons crowded the Casino de Monte-Carlo, games were in full operation and large sums of money sat on the tables. It was a typical Saturday night in spring at the Monaco…
Quick Fact – Big Numbers
Mid-1870s Virginia City, Nevada, at the peak of the mining boom when the population was about 18,000, boasted one gambling house for every 150 people. That’s 120 of these places, primarily saloons! Some of the…
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble
1975 In the spring, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, a Las Vegas oddsmaker and bookie, punched, knocked down and kicked casino magnate, Nathan Jacobson, in a Caesars Palace hallway in a confrontation over a debt he…
Quick Fact – Gangster’s Obsession
1948 Mickey Cohen (né Meyer Harris Cohen) — violent Los Angeles, California mobster and gambling kingpin with ties to Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and the Flamingo in Las Vegas, Nevada — suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder…
Men Please Do Not Apply
1937-1970 Card dealing was a male-dominated profession in Nevada’s casinos until 1937, when Harolds Club, in Reno, put the first woman at a 21 table to deal. Co-owner Harold Smith previously had been hiring women,…
Quick Fact – Good Luck Charm
1969 Elvis Presley was one of the first headliners at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. His performances began a record-breaking run of 837 sold-out shows at the spot over the ensuing seven years. In his…
California
Gambling: Bookmaking
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Internal Revenue Service
Hy Goldbaum
It Really Happened
McNeil Island Corrections Center (WA)
West Hollywood--California
Bookies’ Bookies Not So Good With Numbers
1945-1955 In the late 1940s, three bookies — or commissioners, as they preferred to be called — operated on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California under the name, Golden News Service. Hy Goldbaum, George Capri…
Quick Fact – Women, Oh, No!
1905 A Las Vegas, Nevada newspaper commented on the increasing popularity of gambling among ladies: “Gambling made fashionable among women is a rather serious matter. It is bad enough among men, but when the mania…
Casino Criminal Loses Control
1954 Late on a Saturday night in 1954, during the peak of business, an unemployed, 27-year-old railroad hand entered the Stockmen’s Hotel, in Elko, Nevada, where townspeople, miners, ranchers and tourists congregated to socialize, drink and…
Quick Fact – Gutsy Granny
1972 A 71-year-old, wheelchair-bound, California grandmother, Susan Ellyn Reid, who had a long rap sheet and various aliases, entered Harrahs Club in Reno, Nevada in July carrying a box. She gave casino personnel a typed…
Gambling
Gambling Laws / Regulations: NV Anti-Lottery Law
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Lawsuit
Opportunity Club (Reno, NV)
The Chain Letter Of The Law
1935 Although it was a Ponzi scheme, its lure of big money was too strong for many Renoites to resist. One chain letter business, the Opportunity Club, popped up overnight as part of the nationwide…
Quick Fact – Wild Justice
1890 Judge Beckley Campbell conducted court in a Benicia, California saloon. After hearing the evidence and deciding on a verdict in cases, he meted out punishments based on the result of tossing two dice in…