You may find it interesting to read (What Gambling Was All About Way Back When) before delving into this one. That way you will be able to follow the story of gambling.
Here we continue with the ups and downs of the gambling industry. This time we are moving into the second era.
Middle of the 1800’s to the beginning of the 1900’s
Moving on from the English and the Puritans the time capsule brings us to the western frontier. This was the time of risk. With all the gold mines popping up and the dreams of striking it rich running rampant. It was not long before this risk-taking atmosphere resurrected the gambling scene once again. This time it was to take place in California. Of course, it played a big part because of the mindset of those involved in the California Gold Rush. New Orleans was about to say goodbye to what they considered their gambling woes, while San Francisco was now becoming the hot spot.
Gambling space began to become a premium at of cost of $40,000 a year just to keep a 15×25ft. Canvas tent going as a gambling operation. It was paid for in golddust. As the gambling frenzy grew so did the selection of patrons. What was once a man’s source of entertainment now became infiltrated with women as well as other ethnic groups such as the Chinese and black community. Naturally, it wasn’t long before the Government decided to get a piece of the action. In the 1850’s they started licensing the gambling facilities for tidy sums of money.
As the gambling activities spread, the public once again made an outcry against the evils of gambling. It was just not considered a respectable past time once again. The Government took the view to attack the Pro Gamblers rather than the games themselves. The majority of gambling games became illegal. There was also suspicion of wide spread corruption at the municipal level which was the supposed cause of the current depression. Once again, Lynching of the Pro Gamblers became the new past time, taking place in 1856. Mostly in San Francisco. This was in part due to the fact that the Gamblers were supportive of one political group.
Even though many of the gambling games were banned, the Gamblers were not going to sit back and take it. They would merely bring out a variant of the game. This worked because the laws were weak.
Things got tough though. In 1860 there was a ban placed on banking games. (meaning betting against the house) The arm of the law was outstretched to those who ran the games. In 1885, it became illegal to play. In 1891, the serious of the gambling crime was equal for both the player and the operator.
There were those though that were dedicated to keeping gambling alive so it went underground. This is not the end though, so if you want to hear more you are just going to have to go on and wait for our next post which will be next week.
I think that gambling, both back in the olden days and right up to this very day, is something that can deliver the majority of us gamblers some entertainment, fun and a the possibility of some financial gain, I don’t think that the gambling industry itself has become a whimp but I do think that there are more and more people these days that are more than happy to blame their lack of skills and their losses on the establishment where they gamble rather than taking accountabilty for it themselves. It’s these gamblers that are the whimps.
The poker industry has had to in recent times scale down many aspects of the game which back in the day made it such an exciting and even somewhat rough game to play and this is all in my opinion because of those people who are so anti gambling that they can’t see that it actually is a way for people to come together and enjoy themselves.