As the end of the second era of the gambling saga, ended things were getting in place for another change. Incidentally, if you missed our gambling story of the second era you might want to check it out (Keep Your Gentlemanliness).
Just before the beginning of the 3rd era, the gambling activities being illegal went underground. Slot machines came on the scene but were soon banned in 1911. Nevada was undecided about their gaming stance so they legalized it from 1869 to 1910. At this same time, Chinese gaming houses sprung up open to the Chinese players only.
The 1930’s to the Here and Now
It’s really ironic that when things are going good for the economy then gambling is looked upon as being the root of all-evil. As soon as the economy gets into trouble though gambling, is looked upon as a source of redemption. When the stock market crashed in 1929, gambling was the incentive used to stimulate the economy. So guess what gambling was legalized again. It wasn’t just the well-loved game of poker that was affected by all these ups and downs but other areas of gambling as well.
The big crack down became the big news of the era. Government officials began to zero in on the organized crime figures that had taken control of the gambling industry. This was one of the deciding factors for “Bugsy” Siegel to move to the West Coast with the mandate of expanding gaming and bookmaking. More heat from the law forced him to move to Las Vegas.
The “Rex” known as a lucrative floating casino was not exempt from the law either. It made attempts to avoid the jurisdiction of the law by anchoring three miles out from land. Excursion boats would taxi the players out to the Rex. Eventually the Rex as well as other floating casinos were put out of business.
Nevada for many reasons decided to legalize gambling in 1931. As it rambled slowly to its popularity, which didn’t take place till after WWII, it eventually took its rightful place once again. Ironically enough it took the expertise of organized crime to get it to flourish once again, where it would be come an asset to the state of Nevada. In fact, “Bugsy” himself was able to get a gaming license in 1947, which led him to open the Las Vegas Flamingo. We all know though what happened to “Bugsy” in the end.
After hearing about the ups and downs of the gaming industry, the lynching and the murders, it sure makes playing poker online a great and safe past time. It would seem to be the world consensus that gambling is here to stay and it doesn’t matter how much the public outcries become evident, gambling won’t be going anywhere.
If you find the topic of gambling interesting, particularly poker then you need to check out this most interesting article, the for usual mistakes with poker buttons.
It actually is so true that when the world is all happy days the act of gambling seems to be frowned upon even though there really is nothing wrong with it, and then when something goes wrong and the economy starts to go south every one starts to look at gambling with a new perspective and instead of condemming it they seem to be calling out for it to save them. Ironic really when you think about it, greedy ceos and executives and bosses of large companies taking gambles that they shouldn’t be taking with the companies money and then giving themselves big fat paychecks and bonuses only to have the companies and the economy crash, this causes the economic crisis we are in, and then it is Gambling, the outcast of social activities, that comes to save the day. Ever noticed how the casinos are doing so well still?
Lol the casinos are doing well still because unlike many of those big executives and company bosses that sent those big powerful companies down the drain of financial ruin the casinos actually know how to handle money and if anything i think that there are many people out there, especially leaders in america, who could learn a thing or two about financial management from these casinos. Maybe if they knew how to spend money properly and manage their cash like the casinos know how to then we wouldn’t find our country in this situation in the first place.
Lol the Rex had a good idea going there. Reminds me of an episode of the simpsons i saw on tv where they were sailing out to international waters where they could do what they wanted and not get caught by the coast guard and police and stuff. Are there any floating casinos around these days, like casino only not the casino that is a part of a cruise ship or something but an actual ship that is solely a floating casino? If there is then i would love to go, sounds like good fun.
It comes as no surprise to me that it took the expertise of organised crime in order to get gambling back up and running and popular again once it was decided for it to be legalised. They were the professionals when it came to gambling. No matter what these old day bad guy gangsters did, such as Bugsy Siegal and that you still look back at them to this very day and admire them. They were bad boys but at the same time they were so good at what they did and it is hard not to admire them. I think that it is actually people like him who have been the reasons behind many people deciding to play poker. You look back at those old movies and stuff and gambling looks pretty damm good.
I for one am glad that poker isn’t going anywhere. I think that it is a matter of no matter how great something is, no matter how much people enjoy it and stuff you will always find some people out there who want to whinge and complain about it and take it away from everyone who enjoys it. These people annoy me to no end. They wouldn’t like it if we tried to take away their things that they enjoy. It isn’t as though we are harming anyone with our gambling, if we are silly enough to send ourselves broke then that is our own problem. Professional poker players and poker players in general do plenty to help out the community, they don’t get the credit that they really deserve.