1947 John Clark Bosworth, of Reno, 47, was sentenced to 10 days in the local jail for playing with fake $25 chips in a Las Vegas casino. ————————– What do you think? Was this a light or heavy sentence? Photo from freeimages.com, by John Nyberg
1916 The Los Angeles city jail was likely the only legalized casino in California, with gambling taking place daily to a shocking extent, declared Faith Chevaillier, a woman whom President Chester Arthur appointed to evaluate U.S. institutions. “There is often as much as $100 [$2,200 today] on the gambling table, and much money is lost…
1895 Chicago gamblers waged a long, hard legal battle against the law that allowed police and other authorities to destroy casino equipment seized during the execution of a search warrant. The fight ended, however, in 1895 with the Supreme Court of Illinois ruling that the legislation was constitutional — a major blow to casino operators and…
1947 The Golden Gulch casino re-debuted on June 27 under new management, that of James H. Lloyd. He’d had the gaming rooms and bar remodeled “with decorations featuring the ornate Victorian motif and stressing the ‘golden gulch’ theme” (Nevada State Journal, June 28, 1947). That night, all women guests were presented with a corsage of…
1947 Hollywood actress Mildred Jenkins testified in court about her wedding night in Nevada. After marrying A.Q. Bonner, Jr., a Northern California rancher, the two had breakfast and went to a casino. “A.Q. lost all his money then insisted I give him mine because, he said, it belonged to both of us now,” she said.…
1921 Two Minnesotans each wagered $5,000 (about $67,000 today) on a new Fort Scott, Kansas oil well not producing 25 barrels the first day. Twenty-seven Kansans pooled the same amount and bet the opposite. The latter group won and was paid. The losers, however, alleged that water had been mixed with the oil to reach…
1956 The gambling licensees of the Dunes and Silver Slipper casinos applied to restart bingo on the premises, but the Nevada Gaming Commission denied their request, stating that the return of the game to the Las Vegas Strip would be detrimental to the area. This was because in prior years when bingo had been permitted, the…
1909 Businessman David Eldridge and self-described “desert rat,” Malapai Mike, traveled 40 miles across Death Valley in California to investigate a proposed power site for the Brockington Company in Boston, Massachusetts. On their return, they got lost in what seemed to be a sinkhole. In the oppressive heat, they grew exhausted and dehydrated, and one of their…
1946 Some Las Vegas, Nevada casinos handed out women’s nylons as slot machine and tango game* prizes. When the city’s board of commissioners found out, they banned it, threatening repeat offenders with losing their gambling license. It wasn’t the hosiery the officials took offense to; it was the casinos offering merchandise to encourage the playing…
1859 Before Nevada became a state (1864), a few hundred miners at Gold Hill — in what then was the Territory of Utah — passed some anti-crime laws. One forbade gambling: “No Banking games, under any consideration shall be allowed in this district under the penalty of final banishment from the District,” according to the…