GAMBLING AS IT USED TO BE

by Pam North

While the early 1990s marked the advent of casino gaming in the
mountain towns of Central City and Black Hawk, gambling in other forms
has long been a part of this area.  The slick gambler stereotypes
typified in Western movies were mainly just a figment of the
imagination of Hollywood producers.  Here in the 1891-1918 era, it was
just the miners playing cards and pool in local saloons, such as the
Central City's Gold Coin (opened in 1897), which remarkably still has
its original bar and most of its fixtures, and is an authentic example
of the typical saloon of this period.  The miners usually bet with
chips that were redeemable in drinks or merchandise.  Equipment was
basic; card tables and a pool table upon which dice could be thrown
were the essential elements.  Poker was the main game, offered in draw
and stud versions, played under standard poker rules.  The player had
his choice of penny, nickel or two-bit ante games, and the
establishments were maintained by a "rake-off" system.  This system
provided that the player bought chips from the house when he entered
the game, and the house redeemed his remaining chips when the player
left the game; the house withdrew a predetermined number of chips from
the game after each hand which would not have to be redeemed,
constituting a house profit.  Saloons also often had one to three
ornate slot machines, in five, ten and twenty-five cent varieties, and
on the bar was usually a leather cup containing five dice, which a
customer could elect to shake with the bartender to see if the drink
would be for double or nothing.

Sports also was a venue for gambling.  Bets were made on the outcome
of baseball games, wrestling matches, hook and ladder fire team
contests, coursing, rock-drilling and prize fighting.  Reportedly not
less than twenty-thousand dollars was bet in Gilpin County on the
Corbett-Fitzsimmons prize fight.  Politics was still another area
where gambling was rampant.  The pool halls displayed blackboards upon
which were listed the amounts of money deposited with the house on
various candidates and elections.

Gambling even filtered down to the children.  Every candy store
featured a wheel which turned when a child dropped a nickel into it,
and stopped on the numbers one, two or three, multiplying the number
of candy choices available to the child with a little luck.

Gambling was illegal under state laws, but the local sheriff and
district attorney, charged with the responsibility of enforcing those
laws, knew that gambling really couldn't be prevented, only controlled
and limited, and enforcement was on the lax side.  Central City had no
ordinance regulating gambling, only one that stated that miners could
not frequent such establishments.

The elaborate casinos which line the streets of Black Hawk and Central
City may seem to be a new arrival, but their roots go back into
another era.  Man seems to be a betting animal.


Resource:   Yesterday Was Another Day, by Louis J. Carter