Gambling in the Old West

The allure of fortune, the thrill of risk, and the ever-present possibility of a life-altering win or devastating loss – these were the driving forces behind the prevalence of gambling in the American Old West. From the grand riverboats plying the waters of the Mississippi to the dimly lit, smoke-filled saloons of burgeoning mining towns, the roll of the dice, the shuffle of cards, and the clinking of coins formed a constant soundtrack to the era. A lucky draw could elevate a pauper to prosperity, while a single misstep could plunge a man into ruin. This narrative explores the history of gambling in the Old West, its evolution, its key players, and its lasting impact on the American landscape.

The landscape of the Old West was a melting pot of opportunity seekers, adventurers, and those simply looking for a new life. This transient population, coupled with a distinct lack of established social structures and law enforcement in many areas, created a fertile ground for various forms of entertainment and vice, with gambling in the Old West chief among them.

In towns like Deadwood, Dodge City, Tombstone, and Virginia City, the saloons were more than just watering holes; they were social hubs, meeting places, and, most importantly, gambling dens. Here, men played games of chance with their backs to the wall, revolvers close at hand. Dealers presided over tables hosting games like Chuck-A-Luck, Three Card Monte, High Dice, and Faro. Among these games, Faro reigned supreme as the most popular and widely played in the saloons of the wild west.

The precise origins of poker, a game synonymous with the Old West, are shrouded in some mystery. Some historians theorize that it evolved from the 16th-century Persian card game As Nas, played with a 25-card deck divided into five suits. As Nas bore similarities to modern-day Five Card Stud. Others suggest a Chinese origin, dating back to 900 A.D. Regardless of its true genesis, poker likely emerged from a confluence of various gambling pastimes throughout history.

Poker first gained widespread popularity in the United States in the early 1800s in New Orleans, where French settlers played a card game called Poque, which involved bluffing and betting. This early version of poker closely resembled today’s draw poker. New Orleans quickly established itself as America’s first gambling metropolis, attracting riverboat workers, plantation owners, and farmers who were enthusiastic about the betting sport.

In 1822, John Davis established the first American gambling casino in New Orleans. This establishment, open 24 hours a day, offered gourmet food, liquor, roulette wheels, Faro tables, poker, and other games. Davis also made sure that "painted ladies" were present. Dozens of similar establishments followed soon after, making gaming dens the primary draw of New Orleans. The city’s position as an international port and its booming gambling industry gave rise to a new profession known as the card "sharper."

Professional gamblers and con artists gathered in a waterfront area known as "the swamp," an area that even the police were hesitant to enter. Any gambler who was lucky enough to win risked losing his earnings to thieves outside of the gambling rooms and saloons.

In 1811, gambling in the Old West was outlawed throughout the Louisiana Territory, but New Orleans continued to enjoy the prosperity that gambling brought for over a century. Although the law was enacted for the entire Louisiana Purchase, it was not enforced, and casinos and gambling began to expand.

As commerce developed along waterways, gambling spread up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, then westward by covered wagons, and later by railroad. Jonathan H. Greer made the first documented mention of poker in the United States in 1834, referring to it as the "cheating game."

The first gambling dens outside of New Orleans were established in river towns that were popular with both travelers and professional gamblers. It was here that numerous "sharpers" preyed on these transient people, whose pockets were filled with their life savings, as they traveled to the new frontier. The dishonest gamblers frequently ran confidence games and other con artist schemes to swindle unwary pioneers. Numerous businesses specialized in the production and sale of card cheating equipment. George Devol, a riverboat gambler, was so proud of his ability to slip a stacked deck into a game that he once used four of them in one poker hand, dealing four aces to each of his four opponents.

Professional gamblers were largely responsible for the poker boom. They saw themselves as entrepreneurs and capitalized on America’s growing obsession with gambling. Despite their high self-esteem, the public viewed them with disdain, believing they contributed nothing to society. This viewpoint was often justified, as many professional gamblers cheated to win. To be successful, professional gamblers needed engaging personalities to attract men to play with them. Dressed in dandy clothes, their success depended partly on chance, partly on skill, sometimes on sleight of hand, and, in the Old West, on their shooting abilities. By the 1830s, citizens began to blame professional gamblers for every crime in the area, and gambling itself came under attack.

A famous story from 1832 took place during these riverboat gambling heydays. Four men were playing poker on a Mississippi steamboat, three of whom were professional gamblers and the fourth a naive traveler from Natchez. The young man quickly lost all of his money in the rigged game. The Natchez man considered throwing himself into the river, but an observer stopped him and joined the card game with the "sharps." The stranger caught one of the professionals cheating in the middle of a high-stakes hand and pulled a knife on him, yelling, "Show your hand! If it contains more than five cards, I shall kill you!" When he twisted the cheater’s wrist, six cards fell to the table. The stranger immediately seized the $70,000 pot, returning $50,000 to the Natchez man and keeping $20,000 for himself. When the shocked Natchez man asked, "Who the devil are you, anyway?" the stranger replied, "I am James Bowie."

Citizens in river port towns grew increasingly wary of the confidence men that were multiplying so quickly. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the citizens’ rage had grown so intense by 1835 that a vigilante group lynched five cardsharps. Following this incident, many gamblers relocated to riverboats, where they benefited from the transient riverboat lifestyle.

After the Civil War, America expanded its boundaries West, and the frontier was populated by speculators, travelers, and miners. These hardy pioneers were risk-takers, making any gambling situation a popular pastime. In virtually every mining camp and prairie town, a poker table could be found in each saloon, surrounded by prospectors, lawmen, cowboys, railroad workers, soldiers, and outlaws, all hoping to tempt fortune and fate. Gambling in the Old West was an equalizer, a place where a common man could, at least temporarily, rub elbows with the wealthy and powerful.

During the California Gold Rush of 1849, gambling houses sprang up across northern California, providing a wide array of gaming tables, musicians, and attractive women to amuse gamblers. Dance halls began to emerge and spread throughout later settlements at this time. While these saloons frequently offered games of chance, their primary draw was dancing. Customers typically paid 75 to 1.00 for a dance ticket, with the proceeds split between the dance hall girl and the saloon owner. After the dance, the girl would direct the gentleman to the bar, where she would earn an additional commission on drink sales.

A popular girl would average 50 dances per night, sometimes earning more in one night than a working man could earn in a month. Dance hall girls made enough money that it was uncommon for them to also work as prostitutes. In fact, many former "soiled doves" discovered they could earn more money as dance hall girls.

As the Gold Rush gained traction, San Francisco surpassed New Orleans as the United States’ gambling center. Over 100 thriving saloons and brothels catered to sailors and fortune-seeking travelers as they disembarked at the San Francisco harbor and entered the infamous Barbary Coast Waterfront District.

Faro was the most popular and prolific game played in Old West saloons, followed by Brag, Three-card-monte, and dice games such as High-low, Chuck-a-luck, and Grand hazard. During this time, gambling became more diverse, with Hispanics, blacks, Chinese, and women participating. Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, and Madame Mustache were three of the most well-known female gamblers of the time.

Before long, many Old West mining camps, such as Deadwood, Leadville, and Tombstone, became as famous for gunfights over card games as they were for their wealth of gold and silver ore. Professional gamblers such as Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickok learned early on to hone their six-shooter skills at the same rate as their gambling abilities. Taking swift action on the green cloth became part of the gamblers’ code: shoot first and ask questions later.

One such instance that clearly demonstrated this quick and violent code occurred when Doc Holliday was dealing Faro to a local bully named Ed Bailey in Fort Griffin, Texas. Bailey was unimpressed with Doc’s reputation, and in an attempt to annoy him, he kept picking up and looking at the discards. Peeking at the discards was strictly prohibited by Western Poker rules, and a violation could result in the player forfeiting the pot.

Despite two warnings from Holliday, Bailey ignored him and picked up the discards again. Doc raked in the pot without showing his hand or saying a word. Bailey immediately drew his pistol from beneath the table, but Doc’s lethal knife slashed him across the stomach before he could pull the trigger. Bailey lay dead across the table, blood everywhere.

Inevitable situations arose where liquored-up miners and cowboys would shoot up saloons and occasionally the poker winner when angered by their losses. Even Wild Bill Hickok, known for his heroism and prowess with a six-shooter, took advantage of those abilities when faced with a loss in Deadwood, South Dakota. Shortly before midnight, after a night of drinking and gambling, Hickok was playing a two-handed game with a man named McDonald, with the stakes increasing with each card dealt.

When the hand was complete and the middle of the table was piled high with money, McDonald revealed his hand, which included three jacks. Hickok responded, "I have a full house: aces over sixes," and placed his hand face down on the table. When McDonald picked up Hickok’s hand, he exclaimed, "I see only two aces and one six." Wild Bill quickly drew his six-shooter with his right hand and replied, "Here’s my other six." He then flashed a bowie knife with his left hand, stating, "And here’s my one spot." McDonald immediately backed down, saying coolly, "That hand is good. Take the pot."

By the end of the 19th century, gambling had spread like wildfire through the mining camps, multiplying as gold and silver hunters spread across the West in search of new strikes. States and cities began to capitalize on these growing ventures by taxing gambling dens and raising money for their communities.

During the late 1800s, many towns and states across the western frontier began to enact new laws against gambling. In an attempt to gain new levels of respectability, the laws primarily targeted the "professional gambler" rather than gaming in general. Some types of gambling were made illegal, while limits were established on others. Initially, anti-gaming laws were weak and had little real effect on gambling, as they were difficult to enforce, establishments simply introduced new variants, and penalties were light. Gambling in the Old West was a deeply ingrained part of the culture, and eradicating it proved a significant challenge.

The laws were gradually strengthened. Ironically, Nevada was one of the first states in the West to outlaw gambling in 1909. Other states soon followed suit, and true to the Puritans’ worst fears, gangsters combined liquor and gambling in the cities of New York, Cleveland, and Chicago during the 1920s.

By the time the Hoover Dam was built in 1931, Nevada had relaxed its gambling laws, and casinos began to flourish once more. By 1939, Las Vegas had six casinos and 16 saloons. As automobile traffic increased and people began to travel more for leisure, Las Vegas began to boom into the gambling Mecca it is today. The legacy of gambling in the Old West, though transformed, continues to resonate in the glittering lights and high-stakes tables of modern-day Las Vegas. The spirit of risk, the pursuit of fortune, and the allure of the unknown remain powerful forces, echoing the days of riverboats, saloons, and the men and women who dared to tempt fate in the American West.