Quick Fact - Women, Oh, No!
1905 A Las Vegas, Nevada newspaper commented on the increasing popularity of gambling among ladies: “Gambling made fashionable among women is a rather serious matter. It is bad enough among men, but when the mania…
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Robbery / Theft / Embezzling
Elko--Nevada
It Really Happened
Nevada State Prison (Carson City, NV)
Stockmen's Hotel (Elko, NV)
Casino Criminal Loses Control
1954 Late on a Saturday night in 1954, during the peak of business, an unemployed, 27-year-old railroad hand entered the Stockmen’s Hotel in Elko, Nevada where townspeople, miners, ranchers and tourists congregated to socialize, drink and…
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Bombings
Did You Know?
Harrah's (Reno, NV)
Quick Facts
Reno--Nevada
Quick Fact - Gutsy Granny
1972 A 71-year-old, wheelchair-bound, California grandmother, Susan Ellyn Reid, who had a long rap sheet and various aliases, entered Harrahs Club in Reno, Nevada in July carrying a box. She gave casino personnel a typed…
Gambling
Gambling Laws / Regulations: NV Anti-Lottery Law
Games / Races: Lotteries/Sweepstakes
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Lawsuit
Opportunity Club (Reno, NV)
Reno--Nevada
The Chain Letter Of The Law
1935 Although it was a Ponzi scheme, its lure of big money was too strong for many Renoites to resist. One chain letter business, the Opportunity Club, popped up overnight as part of the nationwide…
Quick Fact - Wild Justice
1890 Judge Beckley Campbell conducted court in a Benicia, California saloon. After hearing the evidence and deciding on a verdict in cases, he meted out punishments based on the result of tossing two dice in…
Desert Inn (Las Vegas, NV)
Gambling Laws / Regulations
Gambling Laws / Regulations: Nevada's Black Book / Excluded Person List
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Gaming Control Board
It Really Happened
John "The Bat" Battaglia
Las Vegas--Nevada
Louis Tom Dragna
Marshall Caifano / Johnny Marshall
Nevada
Politicians / Politics: NV Governor Grant Sawyer
Nevada's Black Book: Civil Rights Violation?
1960-1967 Los Angeles mobsters, Louis Tom Dragna and John “The Bat” Battaglia, conversed in a hotel-casino cocktail lounge on the Las Vegas Strip one day in February 1960. But their visit was cut short when…
Casino, Gambling Saloon, Card Club, Slot Route Owners / Operators / Licensees / Gamblers
Did You Know?
Games / Races: Chuck-a-luck
Games / Races: Faro
Quick Fact - Tinhorn Gambler
Today/1888 A “tinhorn gambler,” according to several dictionaries, refers to a game of chance operator who pretends to have money, ability or influence. The phrase is said to come from people who set up chuck-a-luck games…
Emigrant Pass
Ernest Dennison
Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Nevada Tax Commission
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: NV Attorney General Alan Bible
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: NV Police Superintendent Lester C. Moody
Nevada
Politicians / Politics: NV Governor Vail Pittman
Roadside Zoos (Nevada)
Too Cozy With Illegal Gamblers
1948 A real or perceived protective relationship with illegal gambling operators got Nevada police superintendent, Lester C. Moody, fired. Governor Vail Pittman, who’d appointed Moody to the position two years before, terminated him in…
Quick Fact - Stevens' Jewelry
1970 When Connie Stevens, entertainer, departed after a stay at the Kings Castle hotel-casino in Incline Village, Nevada, she accidentally left $20,000 ($122,000 today) worth of jewelry in her suite. Linda Cooley, a housekeeping team…
California
Embassy Club (Gardena, CA)
Ernest "Ernie" J. Primm
Gambling
Gambling Laws / Regulations: CA Anti-Gambling Act
Games / Races: Poker
Gardena--California
It Really Happened
Law Enforcement / Judicial System: Lawsuit
Monterey Club (Gardena, CA)
Politicians / Politics: CA California Attorney General Ulysses Webb
United States
Webb's Wacky War On Poker
1936-Present If it weren’t for gambler Ernest J. Primm’s nerve and fortitude, California’s nearly 90 card clubs wouldn’t exist today. With a gambling license from the city of Gardena (in Los Angeles County), he opened…
Did You Know?
Gambling
Games / Races: Chuck-a-luck
Games / Races: Fantan
Games / Races: Faro
Games / Races: Poker
Games / Races: Red-and-black
Games / Races: Rondo
Games / Races: Rouge-et-noir
Quick Facts
Reno--Nevada
Quick Fact - Gambling Feast
1887 A newspaper blurb touting the availability of gambling in Reno, Nevada titled, A Feast for the Gamblers, read: “Those who delight in gambling sports can be accommodated in Reno … no less than thirty-one…
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Murder / Killing
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Robbery / Theft / Embezzling
It Really Happened
Los Angeles-California
San Quentin State Prison (CA)
Gambling Defeat Leads to Calamity
1915-1935 James “Jimmy” Sidney Rogan, an active student and football player, was well liked by the principal of his high school in Tonopah, Nevada, a mining boom town halfway between Las Vegas and Reno. In…
Quick Fact - Holiday Dream
1961 Dick Seller boasted that, within a year, a new luxury gambling resort would be built 100 miles from civilization, on a 100-acre parcel he owned (and named Holiday) in Humboldt County in Nevada’s desert…
Tales of Rodent Roulette
1946 Nebraska carnival workers dreamed up a strange variation of roulette, and quickly found themselves in court after police and the humane society objected to it. The game, however, gained at least a few fans.…
Allen Smiley
Club Savoy (Las Vegas, NV)
Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Cheating / Fleecing
Flamingo (Las Vegas, NV)
Gambling Laws / Regulations
Games / Races: Craps
It Really Happened
Jack Durant
Las Vegas--Nevada
Louis "Russian Louie" Strauss
Norman Khoury
Dirty Dealings in Las Vegas
1949-1953 Only months after Cleveland bar owner, Norman Khoury’s 1949 acquisition of Club Savoy in Las Vegas, Nevada, California mobster/gambler Allen Smiley, an associate of the then-deceased Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, unexpectedly approached him. Smiley introduced…
Quick Fact - Preacher Shill
1958 Reverend Maurice D. Tulloch, 50, a Kansas man, gave up his Baptist ministry for shilling in a Nevada casino. Feeling as though his life was suffocating him, a month earlier he’d walked out of…