nevada history

Casino Owner’s Offense Embarrasses Nevada

1988-1989 Tipped off by the contents of various lawsuits and complaints by employees, Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) agents raided the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino* on September 27, 1988. The 2,700-room property located on…

Quick Fact – So Done

1946 Mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s wife, Esta (née Esther Krakower) filed for divorce in Reno, Nevada after 17 years of marriage. The two had wed when she was 18 and he was 23. In the…

Vegas Casino Welshes on Paying Out

1958-1961 The Hacienda in Las Vegas, Nevada held an ongoing promotional contest at its golf course, which was widely advertised, even on the back of the postcard above. Participants would pay 50 cents (about $4.25 today) per…

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…

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 – 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…

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,…

Quick Fact – “Castle in the Sky”

1938 To draw guests, a 1938 newspaper ad for the new casino resort at Lake Tahoe in Crystal Bay touted the cinematic history of the land. It read, “All America enjoyed the beloved Will Rogers…

Quick Fact – Greater Transparency Given

1952 The Nevada Tax Commission members agreed by unanimous vote to allow reporters to sit in and report on its voting sessions, meetings in which they made key decisions. Previously, voting had been done behind closed…

Reno Mobsters’ Bank Club Breaks Gambling Law

1940-1941 In a series of raids in December 1940, Washoe County deputy sheriffs confiscated gambling-related paraphernalia from three Reno, Nevada locations: 1) Bank Club casino 2) Washoe Publishing Company (WPC) (room 311 in the Lyons Building)…