1952 When Ernest J. Primm owned the Monterey Club, a poker house in Gardena, California (a Los Angeles suburb), he claimed on his state income taxes the losses of his shills, up to $500 ($4,500 today) a month, as expenses or losses — illegitimate deductions. Seven years later, it caught up with him. The state’s Franchise Tax…
1961 In Nevada, where casino operators can employ shills to play in their clubs, it was established that a licensee may not act as a shill, gambling in their own establishment. Their spouse can’t either unless playing with money other than the licensee’s personal funds. Photo from freeimages.com: by Tanya Harding
1947-1979 “Neat appearing girls from 21 to 25 to shill and learn to deal games at Rolo Casino, 14 E. Commercial Row,” read a Help Wanted ad in the Nevada State Journal (June 6, 1947) for the city of Reno. A shill, as later defined by the Nevada gaming authorities, is: “an employee engaged and financed…