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Looking at 19th Century gambling in the United States requires an examination of the early American colonies, which had very different attitudes towards gambling. Historians have classified the early American settlers into two groups, the English who brought along the English traditions and beliefs, and the Puritans. Although the Puritans came from England, they came to the new world intending to create a "better" society and discard the values of their mother country. To them, the new world represented an opportunity for establishing a society grounded on religious Puritan values and strict Christian beliefs.
GAMING IN THE COLONIESEntire colonies were established along the guidelines and beliefs of one group or another. In particular, different attitudes towards gambling were enforced. In New England and Pennsylvania, Puritan attitudes toward gaming and recreation were adopted. The Puritan-led Massachusetts Bay Colony outlawed not only the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables (even in private homes), but also dancing and singing. This stance was relaxed slightly over the following years so as to allow casual gaming as long as it was for "innocent and moderate recreation" and not as a trade or calling. This hostility towards the professional gambler is a common theme in the history of U.S. gambling.
In other colonies, English attitudes towards gambling and recreation prevailed. These settlers brought with them the view that gambling was a harmless diversion. In these colonies, gambling was a prevelent, popular and widely accepted activity. Legal gambling tended to be those types that were considered proper gentlemen's diversions, such as card, dice and animal racing games. It is widely held that the appeal of gambling was heightened by the frontier spirit. The desire to explore new worlds is similar to gambling. Both rely heavily on high expectations, risk taking and opportunism.
LOTTERIESDespite widspread acceptance, gambling began to be blamed for the problems of the colonies, in spite of the fact that lotteries were used to bail out the early colonies. All 13 original colonies established lotteries, usually more than one, to raise revenue. Playing the lottery became a civic responsibility. Proceeds helped establish some of the nation's earliest and most prestigious universities -- Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Princeton, and William & Mary. Lottery funds were also used to build churches and libraries. Ben Franklin, John Hancock, and George Washington were all prominent sponsors of specific lotteries for public works projects.
Lotteries were not the only form of gambling during this era. Wagering on horse racing was a popular form of gambling. Not surprisingly, it was not quite as organized nor as elaborate as modern horse racing. Rather, the gambling was limited to a few friendly bets between owners of horses and their partisans. It is worth noting, the very first racetrack in North America was built on Long Island in 1665.
Lotteries became an issue in the drive for independence of the colonies. The colonies protested the crown's rules for holding lotteries. In 1769, the crown tried to prevent lotteries from occurring without its permission. Once the war of independence started, the Continental Congress voted a $10 million lottery to finance the war. The lottery had to be abandoned, however, because it was too large and the tickets could not be sold. Notable among the later lotteries was a private lottery passed by Congress in 1823 for the beautification of Washington D.C. Unfortunately, the organizers absconded with the proceeds and the winner was never paid. Lotteries remained popular throughout the 1800's and were commonly called "Policy Games" or "State games"
THE SPREAD OF GAMINGCasino gaming started slowly. Taverns and roadhouses would allow dice and card games. The relatively sparse population was a barrier to establishing exotic gaming houses. But as the population increased, by the early 1800s lavish casinos were established in more densely polupated areas of the young republic. As previously mentioned, gambling and the frontier lifestyle shared similar foundations -- a spirit of adventure, opportunity, and risk taking. During the early 1800s gambling in the lower Mississippi Valley became a legitimate and organized enterprise. The Mississippi River and connected waterways were major avenues of trade for farmers and merchants and the river boats carried passengers who held significant quantities of cash and goods. The south tended to have a more open attitude towards gaming, reflecting the Spanish, French, and early Virginian traditions. New Orleans quicly became the capital for gambling in America and the birthplace of many popular old-west gambling games, including faro, brag, hazard, bluff (poker) and blackjack, each evolving from popular French, English and other European games of skill and chance that originated in the Renaissance and beyond.
THE SHARPS Gambling establishments were started in the river towns and were popular haunts for both travelers and professional gamblers. These gamblers preyed upon these cash-laden travelers who were, "Seduced by the bright prospects of their business deals as well as by the transience of the river frontier..." These professional gamblers, also known as "sharps" or "sharpers", generally were dishonest and often turned to confidence games, gaffed equipment and other forms of cheating to make their money.
During the 1830's, the actions of the professional gamblers came under growing scrutiny and southern settlers turned against the professional gambler. The professional gamblers were often blamed for limiting economic growth, interfering with business, endangering the streets, committing numerous crimes, and debasing the morality of the society. Vigilantism was one method by which the anti-professional gambler sentiment manifested itself. Groups of citizens organized to push the gamblers out of the South. During the early 1800's, gambling came under increasing attack. There was always a group opposing gambling on moral grounds. This opposition was largely based on religious beliefs.
In 1835, a vigilante group lynched five cardsharps in Mississippi. Professional gamblers moved from the town into the riverboats. Lynching proved to be a successful policy option for reducing the presence of professional gamblers in towns. In contrast to the river boat casinos of today, the old-time river boats were not floating casinos. Gambling occurred informally among the passengers, often in secret and by invitation only. The period between 1840 and 1860 represented the glory days of the flashy riverboat gambler such as that seen in the movie, Maverick. The professional gamblers benefited from the transient nature of the riverboat lifestyle. Many also moved out west to California with the Gold Rush between 1848 and 1855.
Itinerant gamblers, or "Black Legs" as they were often called, were usually more feared than respected during the Gold Rush. Used to dealing with unhappy and violent losers, they were always prepared for trouble. Most of them were highly skilled and well-paid for their efforts. Those who were not skilled or blessed with the instinct for survival did not last long in the business.
MOVING WESTThe demise of the riverboat gambler had more to do with circumstance than direct action by the people. Emergence of railroads and the outbreak of the Civil War were the precipitating factors. Travel by steamboats declined as railroads started to supplant steamboats as the favored method of transportation. Trains were more reliable and were faster than the riverboats. The Civil War interrupted virtually all river travel and abruptly diminished gambling in that area. The war also contributed to the spread of gambling in our growing nation. Boys that had been sheltered in their rural homes and small towns were exposed to gaming as a diversion. Many soldiers, from both armies, gambled matches, tobacco, rations and their meager earnings among themselves or at the opportunity, at any makeshift gambling establishment they encountered in their travels.
As the country moved westward and at the conclusion of the Civil War, the frontier spirit continued to spread. Mining booms increased the rush to the far west. Miners, lured by the promises of easy and abundant riches, personified the frontier spirit better than the sponsored and often well-outfitted explorers before them. Mining was a gamble, and risk-taking was valued for it represented an opportunity for great wealth. These were restless and ambitious people who had high expectations and the ambition to seek their fortune at any cost. Probably nowhere was this more apparent than in California. The gold rush brought a huge increase in the amount and types of gambling to California. As the Gold Rush gained momentum, San Francisco replaced New Orleans as the center for gambling in the United States. The market for gambling space was so strong that a mere canvas tent, 15 by 25 feet, cost $40,000 annually, payable in advance with gold dust. Over one hundred thriving saloons and brothels met the sailors and fortune-seeking travelers as they disembarked at the San Francisco harbor and stumbled into the infamous Barbary Coast Waterfront District.
The apex of California gambling was from 1849 to 1855. During this time, poker and blackjack were relatively obscure games. Until the late 1870's, Faro was by far the most popular and prolific game played in old west saloons, followed by brag, monte and several dice games such as high/low (also called over & under), chuck-a-luck and grand hazard. Gambling became widespread throughout California, whether it was in Mexican towns like Monterey, mountain towns like Mariposa, or growing inland cities such as Sacramento and Dry Diggins (which later became Hangtown, and was ultimately renamed Placerville). During this period, gambling tended to be surprisingly integrated in California. Patrons included women, Hispanics, blacks, and Chinese, something unheard of in the East at that time.
By 1850, both the state and cities were licensing gambling establishments to raise money. In 1855, the small boomtown of Columbia (now a California State Historical Park) boasted having 15,000 residents with 4 banks, 4 newspapers and 40 saloons with 143 active faro banks in operation. As settlers spread beyond California, so did gambling. In general, gambling and the "wild west" were intimately linked. Gambling was especially widespread in the mining camps that multiplied as the miners spread across the west and north to the Klondike, searching for new strikes.
ANTI-GAMING LAWSNew laws against gamblers and gambling began to be enacted in California, as well as across the rest of the United States. The desire for respectability and a recognition of the social ills tied to gaming led to limits on legal gambling. State legislatures made most types of gambling illegal. However, the initial aim of anti-gaming laws did more to target the "professional gambler" than gaming in general. Gamblers were affiliated with municipal corruption and were blamed for the depression that was occurring at the time. Lynching of professional gamblers occurred in San Francisco in 1856, in part a result of the fight for political control of the city. As it turns out, the gamblers were strong backers of one political faction and as power changed hands, they quickly found themselves to be out of favor.
Initially, anti-gaming laws were weak and had little real effect on gambling. The statutes outlawed specific games, making the laws difficult to enforce as new and unnamed variants were used and only light penalties were provided. However, the laws were gradually strengthened. In 1860, all banking games were banned in California (Banking games are those where the player bets against the house, such as faro, blackjack, and roulette). Initially, the laws tended to focus on those who ran the games, not the players. In 1885, this was changed so that it was actually illegal to be a player. Finally in 1891, the statutes made the penalty for playing equal to the penalty for running the game. In California, where most gambling was illegal, the first slot machine was invented and premiered in San Francisco in 1895. It was not specifically outlawed in California until 1911. Gambling was legal in Nevada between 1869 and 1910. As a result, much of the gaming activity moved from California to places such as Virginia City, Nevada. Although legally protected, during this time gambling never reached the size in Nevada that it did in San Francisco.