Who Invented Gambling
The first form of gambling over the internet to really take off was online casinos. In the same year that Antigua and Barbuda passed its Free Trade and Processing act, 1994, a company called Microgaming was formed. Millionaire the philanderer gambler and duelist who invented modern finance Dec 07, 2020 Posted By Ken Follett Publishing TEXT ID 67546547 Online PDF Ebook Epub Library around him the storms of fate millionaire the philanderer gambler and duelist who invented millionaire the philanderer gambler and duelist who invented modern finance.
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| East Chicago is the home port to Resorts East Chicago, a 400-foot boat containing a 53,000-square-foot casino. It opened in 1997 and features 1,900 slot machines and 71 gaming and live poker tables, but is not the first 'full-service' casino to operate in the city. That honor probably belongs to Indiana Harbor's famous 'Big House' which operated from 1929 to 1950 at 3326 Michigan Avenue. |
1910 view of building | 1950 view of building | Click here for short biography of 'Tiger' |
| The Big House was reported to maintain '...a free taxi service to and from Chicago's southside... One of the midwest's most lavish gambling emporiums...[it was also] the racing wire nerve center of all bookie establishments in the county. It boasted oriental rugs on the floor of the second story, which housed costly mahogany roulette and dice tables...Roughly 125 persons were employed in the place... The Big House also had 15 branch handbooks, six in Hammond, two in Whiting and seven in East Chicago.' Virgil Peterson, head of the Chicago Crime Commission, reported to the Kefauver Committee in 1950 that the Big House had a gross take of $9,000,000. Its closure that year did not seriously harm the timely communication of racing results to Hammond, East Chicago or Whiting because the wire service continued from a hideout in Cedar Lake. Historian Archibald McKinlay called the Big House, '...Chicagoland's casino of casinos, thanks to the early backing of Frank Nitti.' |
| Matchbook advertising for the Big House at 3326 Michigan Avenue, Indiana Harbor, Indiana. The name 'Big House' c.1940s |
Two views of downtown East Chicago (1953 and 1956) with the 825 Club building on the right. East Chicago was one of the very few cities with a passenger train tracks and service in a central downtown location from 1906 to 1956. This provided easy access to gambling in East Chicago for customers from Chicago, Hammond, Gary, Michigan City and South Bend. Exchange Street as shown here in 1929 or 1930 was renown for another gambling den, next to one of East Chicago's most popular eateries, 'Hot Dog John's' that opened in 1929. |
'Hadie' | TELEFLASH wired telephone PA |
| The 825 Club (aka: 'South Shore Smoker') located at 825 West Chicago Avenue was one of the successors to the Big House and was in continuous operation (except during occasional police raids) from about 1949 to the 1970s. One reporter wrote, 'I found myself in one of the biggest and best-equipped gambling joints I had ever seen. It was a long room, brilliantly lighted with overhead lights, and there must have been 40 or 50 men milling around listening to race results coming in over a loudspeaker.' This was in reference to the Illinois Sports News service using the Teleflash technology. See above. The '825 Club, like other similar places throughout the Calumet Region, operated under the unofficial permission of local authorities. But, to be safe, its rear door was equipped with a two-way mirror and a look-out post was staffed in the front lobby area. Police raids occurred often, usually just before a political election, and were a benevolent ritual that included advanced notice by friends of the Club. In fact, Indiana along with most other states, has had a very long tradition of police raids on gambling establishments, dating as far back as 1870 (See illustration below). The Hammond Times newspaper regularly published the locations of East Chicago gambling joints and their owners, who were required to have federal gambling stamps. The total number of gambling stamps issued in 1954 was 29. As published in 1967, these stamps revealed addresses and owners, including The 825 Club, 825 Chicago Avenue (Harold L. Layer and William Gardner); The Forsythe Club, 4610 Indianapolis Blvd. (Angelo Papalambro); The Elks Club, 4942 Alexander Avenue; The Sportsman Club, 3215 Block Avenue; The Auditorium Grill, 3436 Michigan Avenue (Joseph Kovich); Palace Recreation, 4605 Indianapolis Blvd--next to Hot Dog Johns (George Anaston); and The L&N Club, 3407 Michigan Avenue (Johnny Nan). | |
Raid in progress at Mason Long's Faro Room Fort Wayne, Indiana, c.1870 | Rear entrance of 825 Club always used when 'the heat was on' after raids, 1950s & 1960s. |
| About thirty miles from East Chicago in Long Beach, Indiana, Johnny 'Fix-'Em' Condon established in 1901 a gambling establishment , 'The Long Beach Turf Exchange' that used a special train to bring gamblers from Chicago. Its invitation read: 'You are invited to the finest equipped and only Monte Carlo in America, delightfully situated in Lake County, Ind., near the Standard Oil Company's Works at Whiting. No 'interference' from county or State officials. Open the year around...Ample accomodations for 5000 people... Why go to the race tracks when you can come here and play all the races at...Washington Park, Brighton Beach, Fort Erie, Newport, St Louis, Harlem and Hawthorne...All the finest brands of wines, liquors and cigars...'Herbert Asbury wrote that it was .'the most extraordinary gambling house ever projected in the United States--a castle protected by stockades, barbed wire and picket fences, armed lookouts in sentry boxes, alarm boxes, ferocious bloodhounds...and with tunnels leading outside the grounds and arrangements for setting fire to the place if the police succeeded in gaining an entrance.' However, its size and notoriety caused by its advertising doomed it from the beginning. The Long Beach Turf Exhange lasted only a few months before being closed by Indiana authorities and by opposition from other vested interests in gambling, such as the Chicago race tracks themselves. The Big House was its Lake County successor in the 1920s or early 1930s, but on a smaller scale. |
I would like to hear from anyone who has any photographs,
stories, or information about these enterprises.
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| e m a i l | © 1998/1999/2006 H. Layer, all rights reserved |
Strangely enough, the history of Pachinko starts in a most unlikely place and time. Table-based games first appeared in the early 15th century in England, an apparent attempt to bring popular outdoor games such as croquet indoors. The first such games featured wickets, which were eventually replaced by wooden pins to be knocked down. In the 17th century the games evolved to include pockets. These games became what we know today as billiards.
In France in the early 18th century someone took a billiards table and narrowed it, placing all of the pins on one end with targets behind them. The pins took too long to reset after each shot, so they were replaced by static pegs, while the targets were replaced by holes. The object of the game was to shoot ivory balls up an inclined plane peppered with posts and into a series of scoring holes. In 1819 the game was standardized and called 'Bagatelle', a french word meaning 'a trifle'. Bagatelle quickly spread to America, where is became so popular even President Lincoln played the game.
| In the early 1920's, a childs toy version of Bagatelle called the 'Corinth Game' or 'Corinthian Bagatelle' was produced in Chicago. The shooting plunger was redesigned to accomidate the large silver balls instead of marbles and bumpers and wood rails were later added, creating the forerunner of the American passtime known as pinball. Corinthian Bagatelle introduced brass nails instead of wooden pegs, a first primitive step towards the invention of the pachinko machines |
| 1930's Corinthian Bagatelle |
Corinthin Bagatelle or the 'Korinto Gemu' was first imported into Japan in 1924, and it was not long before candy store owners began putting them on the counters of their shops. Different holes had different values, and children were given small pieces of candy or fruits if they achieved a high enough score. By the late 1920's, nearly every candy store had the machines, and the children took to calling them 'Pachi-Pachi', which means the clicking of small objects or the crackling sounds made by a fire, an obvious reference to the sounds made while playing the game. So-called 'Roten' stalls, holding 3-5 bagtelle-type machines began appearing in markets around 1924. Adults would play Korinto Gemu, and wager for a chance to win small prizes such as cigarettes, soap, or detergent.
| As early as 1910, a British wall game called 'The Circle of Pleasure' was invented and distributed. This innovative machine had many of the common features of what would become known as pachinko, including races, scoring pockets, and even a slingshot-style flipper. It was a popular pub gambling device taking in and paying out coins. In particular, it was set up in a vertical configuration with glass restricting the balls to the playfield. The Circle of Pleasure used a single glass marble that never left the machine. |
| 1910 Circle of Pleasure |
Space has always been at a premium in Japan, and so in 1926 some Korinto Gemu characteristics were morphed with the space-saving Circle of Pleasure machines. The brass nails from the bagatelle joined with the basic design of the Circle of Pleasure to create the first true pachinko machines. This allowed most Roten booths to hold upwards of 10-15 machines in the same space. However, it was not until 1929 that the vertical machines gained universal acceptance. This vertical machine was called 'Pachinko', a reference to the sound of the game being played.
In 1930 the Aichi prefecture headquarters granted the first ever licence for the operation of a 'Gachinko' hall, and it was in Nagoya. Gachinko was a play on words from a sumo wrestling term for a frenzied or fevered shooting forward move. Today the word means 'Gonzo' or 'fevered', a precurser of the so-called 'fever mode' on modern electronic machines. The term is a throwback to the gachinko or 'Fever' parlors of the 1930's.
Initially, these early pachinko machines were designed to dispense a small metal token or medal when a ball landed in a scoring pocket as a way of keeping score.
In 1936, The game of pachinko became an overnight sensation. In Kochi alone, 35 parlors opened in just six months. Late in 1936 pachinko machines appeared that had standardized 11mm 5g balls, and the balls themselves were used to keep score. Unfortunately, there were few produced and they did not have the opportunity to become popular.
In 1937 the production of pachinko machines was halted because both the materials and the manpower were needed for the war in China. In 1938 all of the existing parlors were ordered closed.
After WWII, machines were once again produced and the pachinko parlors spread once more, beginning in 1946 in Nagoya. By 1947 prize balls replaced the medals in nearly all machines.
Where Did Gambling Originate
In 1948 Shoichi Masamura introduced the masamura gage, or the 'Positive Gage Forest'. Prior to this innovation, balls followed mostly vertical paths through rows of nails. The Masamura gage allowed balls to bounce around, and if they missed one pocket, they might still score in a lower one. By 1952 nearly all machines had adopted the Masamura gage.
In 1949 Masamura developed the first game in which more than a single ball could be won. This was the famous 'ALL-10' machine, with each pocket paying out 10 balls. In 1950 he upped the ante with the the first 'ALL-15' machine, a machine with 8 scoring holes each of which payed out 15 balls. Other manufacturers quickly followed suit, and the ALL-15 became the standard for the next three decades. 1949 also saw the establishment of Bussan Marushin and Heiwa companies, making many thousands of machines in just the first year.
In 1951 several manufacturers began producing 'All-20' machines called 'Barrage' machines, but these were outlawed in 1953 by the gaming authorities. Additionally, 1951 marked the beginning of the Sophia Nishijin company which would produce millions of popular pachinko machines for decades.
in 1952 the Kyoraku company began producing their first machines in Nagoya.| In late 1952 the first autoloaders or the 'Renpatsu-shiki' (successive shot) pachinko machines were developed, enabling players to shoot 160 to 180 balls per minute. In the summer of 1953 the gaming authority made it illegal to produce Renpatsu-shiki that paid more than one ball per win pocket, marking 1952/1953 as the only years of that era in which autoloading ALL-15 machines were produced. By the end of 1953 there were 387,664 registered parlors, and over 600 manufacturing companies. |
| 1953 Successive Shot |
In 1955, Sanyo Bussan was established in Nagoya, and they continue to make pachinko machines today.
In 1957, the Takeya 'Expression Drone' model was produced. This model was specifically produced to be placed in the long familiar rows parlors now use, with attendents taking care of the machines from a pathway between the rows. The Expression Drone was also the first machine designed to be backlit by the lighting in the passage between the rows. Other manufacturers quickly added colored gels behind playfield features to take advantage of this new configuartion.
In 1958 the famous Fuji Shoji company began business producing machines.
The History Of Casinos
| In 1960 both the first tulip and the first direct use electrical power (10VDC)for lights made their appearances, although neither was ubiquitus until 1962. The tulips are considered to be responsible for a resurgance in the flagging pachinko industry that had been suffering from low attendance and profits since the restrictions imposed in 1953. Toyotec was established in 1960 as well. |
| Tulip Ball Catcher |
1961 also saw the release of one of the most popular pachinko machines of the era, the Marudai New Prince. This pachinko machine was created to commemorate the birth of the Crown Prince Naruhito in 1960, and was produced for several years afterward due to high demand from parlors and players alike.
In 1965 the first 'olympia' machines were produced, reel machines that are the direct precursers of the popular Pachislo machines.
1966 saw the establishment of The Sankyo Company and their first machines sold extremely well.
In 1969, restrictions on Renpatsu-shiki machines were lifted, leading manufacturers to retrofit earlier ALL-15 models with autoloading features.
In 1970 the first true modern Renpatsu-shiki were released. Early models were refered to as 'front overflow machines' that dumped balls into the bottom tray through an external spout.
Who Invented Casino Gambling
In 1972, the gaming authorities authorized the use of motorized handles, or 'shooting knobs'. The knobs were produced rarely on models from 1973 through 1976 as they met with a great deal of resistance from traditional players. Although acceptance was slow, by 1980 nearly all machines incorporated knobs and the models with flippers were all but eliminated from production.
| In 1974 Nishijin released the first electro-mechanical pachinkos branded as the 'Powerflash'. It utilized a series of solenoids to open and close the tulips according to preset conditions. This was quickly followed up in 1975 by the Nishijin 'Circuit Racer', the 'Fish', and the ' Power Roulette' models. These machines were the immediate precursers to the the Arepachi pachinko machines, sometimes called 'arrangeball'. Arepachi combines elements of bingo with pachinko and is an interesting hybrid of the two. |
| 1974 Nishijin Powerflash |
In 1975 several importers began flooding the retail stores in America with used pachinko machines from Japan. Mildly 'refurbished', these machines were sold through chain outlets such as Sears, Kmart, Pier 1 imports, and Woolworth. The vast majority were Nishijin recycler style machines from 1971-1972 (Model 1200) and Shiroi-Kamome versions from 1973-1975(Model 3200). The true number imported and sold in America is unknown, but it is certainly in the millions. Many pachinko machines still bear the stickers from importers such as Pachinko Palace and The Pachinko Factory, Target Abroad, and Meshulam's. The majority of these machines came in through the ports of California and Washington and were distributed to other major hubs such as Chicago and Philadelphia.
With the proliferation of video games beginning with space invaders in 1978, in 1980 pachinko manufacturers ended the fabrication of mechanical pachinko machines and began producing electronic versions with video and sound features. The first pachinko machines of this era had LED lights, but this quickly evolved into LCD video screens. Some models even incorporated small televisions in the center so that players could watch TV while they enjoyed their game.
Who Invented Roulette Gambling
Advanced computerised pachinko machines still fill the japanese parlors to this day, and a thriving business still exists for the import of pachinkos from Japan. Millions still play this game every day in thousands of parlors.