1907-1918 In 1918, the United States Army requisitioned Le Casino Municipal de Beausoleil, in France on its border with Monaco, for a YMCA center for World War I infantrymen on leave. In the main former gambling room, food was served to doughboys, including American-style bacon and eggs in mornings and, on Sunday afternoons, housemade donuts.…
1928-Today Members of English royalty unwittingly helped launch a new South American casino toward success in the 1930s. After Chilean President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, in 1928, authorized creation of a gambling house, Viña del Mar (translated as “vineyard of the sea”), a city on the country’s Pacific Coast, spent $6.5 million ($95.6 million today)…
1931 The Big Baccarat Table in Nice (France) was sketched by cartoonist, Pierre de Régnier, aka Tigre (1898-1943), and ran in newspapers with this description: “From left to right: Mme. Ephrussi, the French multimillionaire widow who lives at the gaming tables; Andre Citroen, the rich automobile manufacturer, whose fortune represents motor cars; Yves Mirande, the…
1929 Le Casino Municipal in Cannes, France broke its record in January for the highest amount of money (in chips) in play at a baccarat table — $1 million ($14.3 million today). “Though individual bets seldom ran over 200,000 francs or $8,000, almost every five minutes saw $50,000 change hands,” reported The New York Times…
1967 & 1970 Apparently, the beloved crooner Frank Sinatra, Sr. had a temper, which he sometimes unleashed when casino operators denied him additional, excessive amounts of credit when gambling. In one instance when Sinatra lost control, he wound up losing two front teeth. That was in 1967, when he provoked a fight with Carl Cohen,…