Gambling in the Unites States

American gambling came a long, long way in the 20th century. In the early 1900’s, legal gaming was virtually non-existent in this country. Gambling was widespread among people of all races and classes, but it was almost always illegal in nearly every form thanks to the moralists who succeeded in eliminating state sanctioned gambling at nearly every level. Even the state sanctioned lotteries that financed the government in the formative years of the USA were outlawed, a byproduct of Victorian age thinking. Luckily, this nationwide anti-gaming stance wouldn’t last long.

Nevada was the lone state that remained a wide open gambling haven at the turn of the century, but even the Silver State was under pressure from the federal government and it’s neighbor to the West, California, to close down their gambling houses. By 1909, the anti-gamblers triumphed, finally gaining the support of enough lawmakers to eliminate gambling houses. The new legislation, signed by Governor Denver Dickerson, made it illegal to deal of play a wide range of card and dice games; outlawed slot machines; and ended a brief period of legal bookmaking on horse races.

Gamblers struck back, slowly but surely repealing the bans. In the roaring 1920’s, as American around the country drank illegal liquor in defiance of the government, pro and anti gaming forces used Nevada as a battleground. In the end, money talked. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, the widespread economic malaise in the state led many prominent Nevada businessmen to support the legalization of gaming.

On March 19th, 1931, Governor Fred Balzar signed a bill that allowed Nevadans to gamble freely at all sorts of games, many of which we still play today, as long as they were played at a licensed establishment. Roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, keno and slots were all legitimized; licensed and regulated by the government. The acceptance of gambling had begun.

Sportsbetting flourished in the 1930’s, after suffering a major public relations disaster following the ‘Black Sox’ World Series scandal of 1919. Every major boxing match drew more action in bets than it did at the gate. Famous racehorses like Seabiscuit, immortalized in a recent film of the same name, attracted enormous wagers from rich and poor alike. Para-mutual wagering ensured that the bookmakers would profit regardless of which horse emerged victorious, making that form of gambling even more attractive to the house.

I’ve written about the development of the pointspread before, in my article about the early days in the NFL, a league built by gamblers, for gamblers. You can read that article RIGHT HERE. Suffice it to say that sportsbetting just got bigger and bigger throughout the 1930’s and 40’s, with the pendulum swinging towards gambling liberalization at the time.

Bingo took America by storm in the 1930’s as well, a cultural craze for rich and poor alike during those tough economic times. Legal, state sanctioned lotteries regained popularity around this time as well, in an effort to take the ‘numbers game’ out of the hands of organized crime. Why should the mafia profit instead of the government?

Poker was always big, but it got even bigger during World War II. Soldiers worldwide are reknown for their love of gambling. Heck, with their lives on the line, they were gambling for far bigger stakes than money every day.

Tomorrow, I’ll write about some of the more famous poker players of this era – guys like Richard Nixon, who earned the money for his first congressional election onboard his Navy boat in WWII.