1971-1974 In 1971, various people began complaining to the local police department they’d gotten fleeced at an informal casino setup in California’s San Fernando Valley (yes, the location of, like, “valley girl” fame, a culture that developed a decade later). The Dirty Details Consequently, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Federal Bureau of Investigation and…
1970-1973 When federal agents arrested Elliot Paul Price, 51, during a massive multi-city raid in 1970 and charged him with illegally transmitting race wire information across state lines via telephone, two dominos fell: • He lost his job as a casino host at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. • The Clark County Sheriff’s Office pulled his…
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…
1906-1907 “They’ll never get me,” prisoner John Edwards said while being ushered into court for his trial. “They’ll never fasten anything on me” (Nevada State Journal, April 19, 1906). “Hasn’t a man a right to carry $200 or $300 on his person? Is that a crime?” Allegedly, two days earlier, Edwards, with two other masked…
1957 After Robert Van Santen and Cecil Lynch’s business partnership in the Las Vegas, Nevada Fortune Club went sour (Lynch broke off to open his own gambling club at the Golden Slot site), the two fought over use of that name for their respective casinos. The dispute led to Van Santen suing Lynch for $100,000…
1970-1975 In a massive, coordinated effort, federal agents raided illegal bookmaking operations throughout the U.S. with ties to organized crime. On December 12, 1970, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents struck in 11 states and 26 cities, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Miami Beach, six in Ohio…
1949-1950 The Den opened its doors in spring 1949. The proprietors — Donald A. Bentley, John R. Hope and Robert M. Colahan — likely were hoping for at least as long a run as their predecessors’, nine-plus years, when the property was called the Louvre. But it didn’t happen. In mid-September 1949, from the basement…
1958-1959 (Part I ran last week. If you missed it, it’s available here.) The Nevada Tax Commission withdrew the gambling license of the New Star operators — Brent Mackie and Kenneth Henton — in July 1958 after investigators allegedly witnessed 21 dealers cheating customers in eight different ways at the Winnemucca, Nevada casino. Later that month,…
1947-1970 For some businesses, the Red Line was beneficial; for others, detrimental. The Red Line designated a rectangular region of downtown Reno, Nevada in which casinos with unlimited gambling could exist. Clubs offering gambling outside the designated area were limited to 20 slot machines and three blackjack tables. The city council officially created this district…
1956-1959 A thief absconded with $2,000 (about $17,500 today) from the Club Primadonna casino in Reno, Nevada on the first Friday of May 1956. The missing 10,000 dimes, 2,000 quarters and 1,000 half-dollars, the reserve fund for the club’s slot machines, were taken from a wooden cabinet in the basement. Only two employees had keys…