The Ghost Casino’s Disappearance
1937-1947 The bustle and liveliness of the Ghost Casino have long been dead. All that remains is a specter of the club’s former self in the form of a rundown, abandoned building — a state…
Quick Fact – Playboy Casino
1971 Adult magazine publisher Hugh Hefner announced to the media that in two years’ time, Nevada would be home to a Playboy casino in either Las Vegas or on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore. It didn’t…
Beldon Katleman
Casino History
Gambling History
Gaming History
Gus Greenbaum
It Really Happened
Marion Hicks
Nevada
Paradise--Nevada
United States
Wilbur Clark
William J. Moore
Winchester--Nevada
Just Like Living in Paradise
1950-Today When people are on the Las Vegas Strip, they’re really in Paradise — the town, that is. In 1950, a rumor surfaced that the City of Las Vegas’ boundaries would be expanded to include…
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…
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…
Beldon Katleman
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
Boulder Club (Las Vegas, NV)
Casino History
El Cortez (Las Vegas, NV)
Fremont Street--Las Vegas
Gambling History
Gambling: War
Gaming History
Golden Nugget (Las Vegas, NV)
It Really Happened
Las Vegas Club (Las Vegas, NV)
Meyer Lansky
Monte Carlo (Las Vegas, NV)
Nevada
Sin City
United States
Western Club (Las Vegas, NV)
William J. Moore
Alleged Vegas Gambling War Brews
1949 The article, “Las Vegas Gamblers Arming in Control Battle,” ran on the front page of a Los Angeles newspaper in the third week of December, to the chagrin of Nevada gambling regulators, casino owners,…
Casa Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)
Casino History
Casino: Flying
Did You Know?
Gambling History
Games / Races: Roulette
Gaming History
Nevada
Quick Facts
United States
Quick Fact – Flying Casino
1946 Owners of the Casa Vegas gambling club in Southern Nevada, Duke Wiley and Eddie Alias, announced their plan to acquire and convert a surplus, four-engine transport plane into a casino in the air. Slated…
Casino History
Did You Know?
Gambling History
Gambling: Junkets
Gaming History
Nevada
Quick Facts
United States
Quick Fact – Casino Swindlers
1974 It was a successful scam that cheated the Aladdin Resort and Casino out of about $250,000 (about $1.2 million today) … while it lasted. Four men had some friends take junkets to the Las Vegas…
Quick Fact – Pall of Mourning
1963 On the Monday after then President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Las Vegas casinos went dark for 17 hours, from 7 a.m. to midnight, in his honor. Along with the gaming rooms in all of…
Casino History
Gambling History
Gaming History
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Clark County Sheriff's Office--Nevada
Nevada
United States
Catching an Impromptu Show in Vegas
1958 Tourists Robert and Lola McDurmon may or may not have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on how you look at it. After taking in four shows on the Las…
California
Casino History
Gambling
Gambling History
Gambling: Assistance Devices
Games / Races: Creators / Manufacturers: Bob Bamford / Joe Alper
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Nevada
Pasadena--California
Sahara (Las Vegas, NV)
United States
“Electronic Brain Upsets Vegas Blackjack Dealers”
1960 “Las Vegas seemed to be both fascinated and frightened by the little computing machine,” reported Ray Duncan in the Independent Star-News (Dec. 5, 1960). The referenced device, via a dial on its front, advised…
Casino History
Eldorado Resort Casino (Reno, NV)
Four Queens Casino (Las Vegas, NV)
Gambling History
Games / Races: Creators / Manufacturers: Bally Distributing Company
Games / Races: Creators / Manufacturers: Currency Gaming Devices Inc.
Games / Races: Creators / Manufacturers: Dick Graves
Games / Races: Creators / Manufacturers: SIRCOMA (Si Redd's Coin Machines)
Games / Races: Creators / Manufacturers: William "Si" Redd
Games / Races: Slot Machines / Fruities: Big Bertha Constellations
Games / Races: Slot Machines / Fruities: Big Berthas
Games / Races: Slot Machines / Fruities: Super Berthas
Gaming History
It Really Happened
Nevada
Plantation Casino / Rail City Casino (Sparks, NV)
United States
Slot Machines Go Big … and Ginormous
1960s-Today The Big Bertha introduced in the 1960s wasn’t a circus lady or a German howitzer; it was a made-in-Nevada slot machine that became iconic. Named for its size, the three-reel device stood 5 to…