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If anything is constant in the history of gambling, it is change, and the pace of that change just keeps getting faster. By the time a new millennium was about to begin, Las Vegas already had competition for its title from several quarters.

Throughout the United States, nations of Native Americans began taking advantage of their independence from state governments to establish lavish casinos of their own on tribal lands. The opening of the magnificent Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut in 1986 gave East Coast gamblers a reason to stay close to home. By 2005, there would be 55 Native American-run casinos in California alone, each giving Las Vegas a run for its money.

Read More >> Toward the 21st Century

Both Reno and Las Vegas benefited greatly from Nevada’s legalisation of gambling in 1931. Like cities in New Jersey and Florida, they openly welcomed cards, dice, slot machines, roulette wheels and tourist dollars.

In particular, its proximity to a huge public works project—the construction of Boulder (Hoover) Dam—and location on the railroad between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City made Las Vegas the perfect Depression-era jumping off point, not only for visitors, but also for the operators of casinos elsewhere. Mob bosses like Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel already knew how to fleece customers illegally. Nevada had opened the door for them to do so with the state’s blessing.

Read More >> Viva Las Vegas

The love-hate relationship of America with gambling continued throughout the early part of the 20th century. In New Jersey, for example, “gambling resorts” cropped up along the Hudson River across from their beloved clientele in New York City. Most of these operations were run by illegal crime syndicates, who reaped millions of dollars in profits to finance other activities, such as bootlegging, hijacking, prostitution, gun running and drug dealing. Yet the local authourities had little interest in seeing the resorts closed. In 1908, the sheriff of Atlantic County confidently declared that gaming was “a boon to the tourist trade.”

Europe and the rest of the world looked on, having already dealt, by and large, with this angst over legality. Britain’s Parliament, for example, had ended state lotteries by 1826 and then drove gaming out of public houses with strict sanctions against professional gambling in 1845, largely to eliminate cheating. Social clubs were allowed to continue with their games, but betting houses were closed in 1853, and bookmakers were corralled at racecourses where they could be scrutinised. It is quite likely that King Edward VII’s own love of thoroughbreds prevented the tracks from being closed altogether.

Read More >> Taking a Gamble on Gambling

Meanwhile, east of the Mississippi, the British betting fad had taken hold, and horse racing bloomed anew. Maryland’s Pimlico Racecourse opened in 1870, followed by Kentucky’s Churchill Downs in 1875—the homes of the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby. Bookmaking soon became almost as popular in New England as it was in Old England.

Farther south, in Florida, the “Faro King” of New York, John Morrissey, set about opening private “club houses” where non-resident Sarasota vacationers could play undisturbed. By 1871, he was grossing more than $250,000 a year, causing imitators to pop up all around the small city.

Morrissey’s success prompted Richard Canfield, the “Prince of Gamblers,” to set up shop, not only in Sarasota, but in New York, too. His Madison Square Club, modeled after the elegant casinos of Monte Carlo, opened in 1888 and soon grew into America’s top gambling spot. By the turn of the century, Canfield had become the wealthiest casino promoter in the country, worth more than $13 million.

Read More >> New Trends in Gambling

In the early 19th century, gambling was ostensibly illegal in most of the United States, causing vice districts to spring up in major cities, pairing gambling with prostitution. Especially in the South, gangs of swindlers ruled the betting trade in Vicksburg, Memphis, Mobile and other towns.

Outside of state jurisdictions, steamboats all along the Mississippi River region featured on-board gambling, with New Orleans as their base. City fathers tried in vain to outlaw cards and dice, but by 1850, the number of gambling houses in “The Big Easy” alone reached more than 500.

Read More >> It’s a Crime