Quick Fact – Questions of Identity

1923 A new man in town was thought to be the famous Irish American boxer Edward “Gunboat” Smith. But when the City of Reno police arrested him as a suspect in a $310 ($4,500 today) theft from the Casino gambling house in Northern Nevada, they discovered he was an impostor. His real name was Jack…

Gambler’s Wealth Meets Undue Fate

1924-1932 The story of the estate of a long-ago Nevada gambler after his passing is strange and unfortunate. John Quinn was a man who’d lost and made large fortunes in gambling and mining stock deals throughout The Silver State and other parts of the West. He’d opened the first saloon-gambling house in the mining town…

Terror at Casino de Monte-Carlo

  1880 British and French patrons crowded the Casino de Monte-Carlo, games were in full operation and large sums of money sat on the tables. It was a typical Saturday night in spring at the Monaco institution.  Around 11 p.m., a tremendous explosion wracked one of the gambling rooms, throwing people to the floor, extinguishing…

Quick Fact – Lingerie Caper

1966 A 34-year-old 21 dealer at a Crystal Bay, Nevada casino at Lake Tahoe slipped $100 worth of gambling chips into her bra each day for a week before getting caught. Once busted (pun intended), she accepted termination of employment there.