1951

Prior to the July grand opening of the new Greyhound Lines Inc. bus terminal at 224 S. Center Street in Reno, Pyramid Securities Inc. applied for a gambling license and permission to offer games of chance within the new Northern Nevada facility. The request specifically was for craps, 21 and roulette, one of each. The company’s executives were Carl Inskeep, Joe Caulk, Emmett Shea and H.M. Hicks.

The Nevada Tax Commissioners indicated they’d permit the small casino if the games of chance were walled off from the depot’s waiting room.

The decision was left to the Reno City Council.

A Body Divided

Councilman Bill Ligon opposed the gambling proposal. He disliked the idea of visitors arriving in Reno on the bus seeing gambling right away and wanted to prevent that. Surely having a gambling operation in a place “frequented by children and women” would lead to outside criticism of gambling and, possibly, negative consequences, such as federal legislation against it, he said (Nevada State Journal, June 26, 1951).

The industry, legal and illegal, already was in the spotlight due to Senator Carey “Estes” Kefauver and his eponymous committee openly investigating gambling and organized crime in the United States.

Councilman Roy Bankofier, who stood with Ligon, added that gambling is a privileged business, the growth of which the council must control. 

Councilman Tom Harvey favored granting the license. “Gambling is part of our economy,” he said. “Why single out this particular case at this particular time? Would you object to a grocery store going in there? That’s a business, too.”

“It’s a different type of business,” said Ligon. “Gambling is a very important part of our economy. Let’s protect it. Gambling is a business that must be restricted if we’re going to hang onto it.”

Councilman Marhsall Guisti said he couldn’t approve distinguishing between businesses but believed gambling should be contained in one part of Reno.

Attorney Richard Blakey, representing Pyramid Securities, reiterated to the agency that the gaming area in the bus station would be separated by wall from the waiting room and as such, gambling wouldn’t be forced upon anyone. Rather, they’d have to seek it out if they so desired.

Blakey added that slot machines, which are considered gaming devices, are allowed in other bus terminals in Reno. “Should there be distinction between kinds of gambling permitted?” he asked.

The Final Answer

The council vote was a 3-to-3 tie, which Mayor Francis R. Smith was left to break. He voted no, thereby officially denying Pyramid Securities its gambling request for the depot.

Not A Complete Kibosh

In a different, previous application, though, Pyramid Securities had asked the Reno City Council for permission to operate a bar and slot machines in that same new Greyhound depot.

After much discussion, the members allowed it but with conditions. The bar had to be separated from the waiting room and all window glass had to be painted or frosted so it couldn’t be seen through.

When Reno’s new Greyhound Lines station debuted in July 1951, inside was the Oak Room bar with its 27 slot machines open for business. Eight more working slots sat at the facility’s Lake Street entrance.

Other depot amenities included a cafeteria, soda fountain, newsstand and sizable lobby.

“The building is one of the largest and most modern of its kind in the Pacific area,” noted the Nevada State Journal (July 26, 1951).

Sources

1953

Theodore “Ted” Donaldson, 31, bought six slot machines from Joe Larango of Pyramid Securities Inc., a company with the devices in several Reno, Nevada locations, including the Oak Room casino. Donaldson paid the $1,825 cost (about $17,000 today) with a check. Each slot was valued at about $900 ($8,000 today).

Larango soon discovered the check was invalid as the account it was written against didn’t exist. Next, he learned that Donaldson had sold three of those purchased gambling machines to a local novelty store owner for $300 ($3,000 today).

Not Having It

Larango pressed charges against Donaldson, who already had a complaint filed against him. That one was for writing a bad $20 check ($185 today) to Lee Miner, owner of Reno’s Midway bar, two months earlier. Bail was set at $2,500 ($23,000 today).

Police officers believed Donaldson had issued at least six fraudulent checks in Reno and Sparks.

On the Larango case, Donaldson was charged with acquiring merchandise under false pretenses, obtaining money via false means and issuing fictitious checks. The judge set bail at $1,300 ($12,000 today).

Strange Proceedings

At the preliminary hearing, Donaldson claimed he thought he’d had enough money in the bank to cover the check to Larango when it was cashed. Yet an employee of his financial institution, the First National Bank, testified at the hearing that Donaldson had opened a checking account with $300 ($3,000 today) several weeks prior to him buying the slots, but the bank manager had closed it when funds had gotten overdrawn.

Donaldson requested a jury trial, which was unusual in that bad check cases rarely advanced to that stage, but one was scheduled.

Then he changed his mind, which was allowed, pleaded guilty and asked for probation. When the state probation officer filed a report on Donaldson for the judge, Harold O. Taber, “the jurist wasn’t impressed with what he saw,” reported the Reno Evening Gazette (Dec. 16, 1953). The document detailed prior arrests and searches for Donaldson and contradicted “his version of his family affairs.”

Denying Donaldson’s request, Taber sentenced him to one to five years in Nevada State Prison.

He was paroled in March 1955 after serving 15 months.

As for the other three slot machines Donaldson had acquired from Larango, he at some point had returned them to the seller, whether voluntarily or by order is unknown.

Sources