They offered games such as faro, blackjack, poker, keno, and old Victorian games like pedro and monte. He held aces and eights in his hands, which has become known as the “Dead Man’s Hand”.Īnother well-known name in the Wild West, Wyatt Earp owned many quite lavish saloons during his lifetime in boom towns across California, Alaska, and Nevada. He died in 1876 after a man shot him in the back of the head at a local saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota while playing cards. Common games included poker, faro, brag, three card monte, and dice games as well as pool, darts, and bowling.ĭid You Know? Wild Bill Hickok became a legendary figure of the Wild West as a professional lawman, gunfighter, and gambler. With hardly any restrictions, gambling became popular at local saloons where people gathered to talk, drink, gamble, or enjoy the entertainment such as piano players, theater, and dancing girls who routinely doubled as prostitutes. In the Old West, early land based casinos were called saloons, a place where people gathered to gamble, drink, socialize, and enjoy entertainment.įrontier towns like Deadwood, Dodge City, Denver, and Kansas City became famous for their lavish gambling houses. Take a shot at striking gold in California with However, over time laws became stricter and casino activity died down. During the California Gold Rush in the 1850s, the city of San Francisco triumphed over New Orleans as the country’s largest gambling hub. When settlers discovered gold in California, a flush of aspiring prospectors headed out west looking to strike it rich. The territories of the Wild West offered an unregulated frontier for casinos. Want a taste of the riverboat casino? Check out It wasn’t until the 1990s that states like Illinois and Louisiana again legalized riverboat casinos. Eventually, the riverboat casino industry died out after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. However, the law soon caught on, and in 1835 five casino gamblers were hanged for cheating in a card game. It didn’t take long for these vessels to attract professional card cheats onto the unregulated waters of the Mississippi. In the 1820s, riverboat casinos along the Mississippi attracted gamblers who played popular card games or placed bets on boat races. In the 1820s, riverboat casinos became popular along the Mississippi River.

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