Nevada Archives

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Block 16: Sin City’s Early Days

1905-1941 Imagine in the early 1900s, a block about the length of a football field, in the Mojave Desert in Nevada where gambling, drinking and prostitution prevailed free from law enforcement’s intrusion, and where fights…

Gambling Currency: Coins It Really Happened Nevada Politicians / Politics: NV Governor Charles Russell

Loophole in the Law

1955 When Nevada legislators legalized gambling in 1931, they didn’t consider one significant caveat. The omission came to light in January 1955 when an industrious Las Vegas casino patron was arrested for using Mexican 10…

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel Did You Know? Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Siegel’s Estate

1955 When presumed-to-be-wealthy mobster, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, was slain at age 41, the estate he left was worth $35,609 (about $314,550 today). Before his murder, Siegel co-financed and oversaw completion of the Flamingo hotel-casino in…

Did You Know? Gambling Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Peephole Vetting

1931 Even after wide-open gambling became legal in Nevada, many of the exclusive clubs continued to vet the people who wanted entry. Someone inside the establishment would look through the peephole in the door and…

Bobby Garcia Carl "Cork" Civella Gambling Laws / Regulations: Nevada's Black Book / Excluded Person List Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Gaming Control Board It Really Happened Joe Sica John "The Bat" Battaglia Louis Tom Dragna Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola Motel Grzebienacy Murray "The Hump"/"The Camel" Humphreys Nevada Nick Civella Sam "Momo" Giancana

The Original Black Book

1960 A cheap, spiral notebook held great power in Nevada’s gambling world for decades. It contained known U.S. mobsters whose underworld statuses and histories were such that the state gambling authorities didn’t want them anywhere…

Did You Know? Gambler (Operators/Players): Minors Gambling Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Gambling Minors

1888 When select games of chance were legal in Nevada, so many youths under age 21 regularly were frequenting the gambling clubs (which was illegal) that the police threatened to make an example of some…

Did You Know? Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Harolds Warning

Harolds Club, a casino that debuted in Reno, Nevada in 1935, displayed signs on its property that read: “No one can win all the time. Harolds Club advises you to risk only what you can…

Did You Know? Gambling Currency: Coins Nevada Quick Facts Sands (Las Vegas, NV)

Quick Fact – Sands Silver

1956 As revelers welcomed the new year at the Sands hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, management gave every guest (an estimated 18,000 of them) a brand new silver dollar. Additionally, they gifted each of the 700…