Gaming History - Week of April 20, 2025
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| April 20th |
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| 2025 - Sunday |
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| 1954 - Las Vegas, NV. The Patio opens at 3201 South 5th Street, on the Las Vegas Strip - closes in 5 months. |
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| 1955 - Las Vegas, NV. The casino was first proposed by Detroit mobster William Bischoff as the Casa Blanca, and received a gaming license in 1952. Bischoff later withdrew from the project, which was taken over by Miami businessman Samuel Cohen. By March 1955, Cohen, identified as a member of Miami's S & G gambling syndicate, was no longer part of the investment group, though rumors persisted that he secretly maintained an involvement. Marx Brothers Harpo and Gummo held minority interests at the opening.The Riviera opened on April 20, 1955 as the first high-rise and the ninth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. Liberace cut the opening ribbon, and became the first resident performer. The Riviera is one of the oldest and most famous casino resorts in Las Vegas Valley. The Riviera also broke new ground in its design: previously, Strip resorts resembled roadside motor courts.The opening of the Riviera, along with The Dunes and the Royal Nevada casino resorts within a month were the subject of a famous issue of Life magazine. |
| Link to: The Riviera Wikipedia
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The Riviera in 1969 |
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| 2016 - Las Vegas Nevada. Havana, Cuba, served as a virtual haven for organized crime in the 1950s. After former Cuban President Fulgencio Batista staged a bloodless military coup to resume the presidency in 1952, he solicited large bribes from top American hoodlums who would spend hundreds of millions to develop hotel-casinos and lavish nightclubs in Havana with the full support of Batista's corrupt government.
The Havana Mob, including Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Santos Trafficante and Albert Anastasia, operated freely in the city until New Year's Day 1959 when Fidel Castro's leftist rebels suddenly overthrew Batista, seized the Mob's properties and closed its casinos. |
| Link to: The Mob Mueseum
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| April 22nd |
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| 2025 - Tuesday |
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| 1944 - Reno, NV. Bonanza Club opened at 207 North Center St., Reno. |
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| April 23rd |
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| 2025 - Wednesday |
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| 1910 - Enid Oklahoma. Samuel A. "Sam" Boyd (April 23, 1910 – January 15, 1993) was an American businessman and casino manager and developer. Boyd is noted for introducing successful marketing, gaming, and entertainment innovations into the casino gaming industry, as well as building one of the largest and most successful casino empires in the world.Born in Enid, Oklahoma, Boyd began his career in the gaming industry in 1928, when he ran bingo games on a gambling ship offshore Long Beach, California. Just prior to the United States entering World War II in 1941, Boyd moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with only $30 on hand. Sam Boyd was able to quickly make his way up through the gaming industry by initially working as a dealer. He later went on to hold a variety of jobs in the industry, moving between Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe, California before moving back to Las Vegas.
Having saved up a substantial amount of cash, in 1952 Boyd invested $10,000 to become an owner-partner at the Sahara Hotel and Casino. . |
| Link to: Sam Boyd Wikipedia
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| Sam Boyd |
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| 1964 - Reno, NV. Golden Gulch Casino (Hickok's), located at 34 East Second Street in Reno, is licensed for slots, chuck-a-luck and wheel of fortune. |
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| April 24th |
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| 2025 - Thursday |
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| 1946 - Las Vegas, NV. Indian Village Casino opens on Las Vegas Strip. |
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| 1950 - Las Vegas, NV. The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by New York architect Jac Lessman, it was the fifth resort to open on the Strip. It was situated between Desert Inn Road and Sands Avenue.The Desert Inn opened with 300 rooms and the Sky Room restaurant, headed by a chef formerly of the Ritz Paris, which once had the highest vantage point on the Las Vegas Strip. The casino, at 2,400 square feet was one of the largest in Nevada at the time. The 9-story St. Andrews Tower was completed during the first renovation in 1963, and the 14-story Augusta Tower became the Desert Inn's main tower when it was completed in 1978 along with the seven-story Wimbledon Tower. The Palms Tower was completed in 1997 with the second and final renovation. The Desert Inn was the first hotel in Las Vegas to feature a fountain at the entrance. . |
| Link to: The Desert Inn Wikipedia
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| The Dessert Inn In 1973 |
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| 1974 - Las Vegas, NV. Royal Las Vegas Hotel & Casino opens at 99 Convention Center Drive. |
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| 1994 - Tunica, MS. Lady Luck Casino closes. |
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| April 25th |
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| 2025 - Friday |
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| 1931 - Reno, NV. Bank Club in Reno had a Grand Opening. The casino had been operating in the basement since before gambling was legal. After gambling was legalized, they renovated the ground floor and opened a nearly 5000 square foot casino, the largest in the state, at the time. . |
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| 2005 - Robinsonville, MS. Harrah's Mardi Gras closes. |
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| April 26th |
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| 2025 - Saturday (TODAY) |
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| 1982 - Las Vegas, NV. Peppermill Casino opens at 3049 Las Vegas Blvd. South, on the Las Vegas Strip. |
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| 2005 - E. Chicago, IN. Harrah's Showboat Mardi Gras casino becomes Resorts Casino. |
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| 2005 - Robinsonville, MS. Resorts Casino opens. |
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