1966 Suddenly, in the fall, the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) directed 41-plus casinos to cease operation of specific electronic blackjack machines because they were “experiencing difficulties when played so as to render the devices more liable to win or lose” (Nevada State Journal, Oct. 21, 1966). These 101 devices, available in gambling rooms in Las…
1946 A tastefully attired gent in his 40s sat at a craps table around 7 p.m. on a March Tuesday and began to wager with bundles of $1,000 ($12,000 today). After betting Harolds Club’s house limit for a while, which yielded $7,500 a point on a win, management waived it. The game lasted 36 hours,…
1952–1958 When Fulgencio Batista returned to power as president in Cuba in 1952, he aimed to foster a gambling empire from which he could generate revenue for his coffers. To facilitate casino development, he and his administration: • Restricted gambling licenses to hotels or nightclubs worth $1 million or more • Waived taxes, which were…
1957-1962 Perhaps it was a bird-brained idea, perhaps not. In 1957, Dick Graves, the owner of the Nugget, in Sparks, Nevada, commissioned a handcrafted, solid gold rooster for display in one of his hotel-casino restaurants, the Golden Rooster Chicken House, then under construction. The final product was 9 inches tall and embodied about $40,000 worth…
1951-1952 Gambling boomed in Las Vegas, Nevada immediately following Senator Estes Kefauver and his committee’s nationwide investigation into organized crime. The 27 hearings the group conducted in 14 United States cities in 1950 and 1951 (Las Vegas was in November 1950) “turned a bright, hot light on illegal gambling in other parts of the country,”…
1870s-1920s “I want to go short 1,000 bushels of December wheat, 1 cent on the bushel.” This $10 bet was typical back in the heyday of bucket shops in the United States, between 1870 and 1920. People wagered on the future prices of stocks, securities and commodities — grains, cotton, oil, etc. — without actually…
1904-1905 Criminal drama occurred between two men late one November morning in the Wieland saloon in Reno, Nevada in 1904. James Mann, a Wyoming man who sometimes worked in Silver State gambling clubs — the Louvre saloon and Oberon bar — had been imbibing for some time inside the Wieland. He jokingly began to spar with…
1961-1966 Early in 1961, Michael Catrone, 60, an apartment complex owner, presented to the Nevada Club in Las Vegas, Nevada a winning keno ticket for $25,000 ($198,000 today). Yet the casino’s general manager didn’t pay it because it was suspicious — the ink on the ticket was lighter than on other ones. An internal inquiry…
1946 Two brothers — Edward P. and George Jones — freely controlled Chicago, Illinois’ policy* racket for 25 years, beginning in the 1920s. As a result, the two raked in money, $10 to $30 million per year, in nickels and dimes, primarily from the Caucasians and African Americans living in slums, which turned the siblings…
1970-1971 In the summer of 1970, a package and suitcase found in a Sparks Nugget motor lodge room in Nevada with a note affixed saying to please deliver the items to Nugget owner John Ascuaga’s office. A $20 bill was attached as a tip. A few days later, Nugget manager Gil Padroli opened the package.…