An Act of God
One shouldn't underestimate the role the industry itself played in transforming its status from sinful vice to all-American pastime. David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas, points out in his 2003 book Suburban Xanadu that Las Vegas succeeded not only because of its reputation as Sin City, an exotic, remote enclave where people could go and behave in ways they wouldn't in the presence of nosy neighbors, but also, and perhaps mostly, because it replicated the home environments of visitors.
One of the city's most influential casinos was El Rancho Vegas, built in 1941 and, in Schwartz's words, designed like "a suburban subdivision rather than existing urban gambling milieus." Located two miles south of the city's downtown, just off the main highway from Los Angeles in the area that would come to be known as the Strip, the El Rancho proved quite attractive to tourists from Southern California; its private bungalows, with their own lawns and kitchens, allowed visitors to "escape from the rigors of suburban life by relaxing in a facsimile of it."
Mobsters also helped pioneer Las Vegas, of course, but under their reign gambling remained a regional, relatively modest phenomenon. They targeted high rollers, not Midwestern grandmas. In 1967 the Nevada legislature made it legal for publicly traded companies to purchase gambling licenses, and the corporatization of the commercial casino industry began. Investment capital grew cheaper and more abundant, and that meant developers were able to add more hotel rooms, build bigger casinos, and introduce more nongambling attractions such as theaters and restaurants. Gambling became a volume business, the city prospered, and soon people in other locales began wondering how legalized gambling might benefit their own states. Lotteries were the first manifestation of that, Atlantic City the second, but ultimately, for gambling to truly become mainstream, an act of God was required.
Enter bingo. Until the early 1970s the game was illegal but tolerated in many states, where authorities weren't eager to crack down on church fundraisers and other philanthropic efforts. Eventually, however, some states started legalizing it so they could regulate it better. Legal bingo was generally a small-stakes affair; in Florida in the 1970s, for example, jackpots were limited to $100, and charitable and civic groups could hold games only two nights a week.
That changed dramatically when the Seminole Indians decided to enter the bingo business in 1979. Because of the tribe's sovereign status, its leaders believed, they wouldn't have to adhere to Florida's bingo regulations. With the help of outside investors and a white-owned management company, the Seminoles opened a 1,200-seat bingo hall in Hollywood, Florida, and offered games seven days a week, with nightly prizes totaling as much as $60,000.
Local law enforcement officials tried to stop the operation, resulting in a series of suits. Each time, the judges ruled in favor of the Seminoles. Had all forms of gambling been illegal in Florida, the outcome would have likely been different, as Florida does maintain criminal jurisdiction over Indian tribes. But since the state permitted bingo under some conditions, the issue was deemed a civil matter, not a criminal one. The Seminoles were allowed to exercise their sovereignty and set their own rules.
In 1987 the U.S. Supreme Court came to a similar conclusion in a case involving a California tribe, the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. Thereafter, tribes realized they could pretty much offer any kind of gambling they wanted as long as the state permitted it under some conditions. If blackjack and roulette were permitted during Vegas-style fundraisers for local civic organizations, Indian tribes could open full-blown casinos. In the years that followed the Cabazon decision, Indian gambling exploded. Today there are 400 tribal casinos in 30 states. California alone has 53.
But you didn't have to claim native heritage to get in on the action. As the tax-free tribal casinos started dotting the landscape, many state legislators started rethinking their stance on casino gambling. Thanks to the example of Las Vegas, craps and roulette were seen not only as a way to generate tax revenues but as engines of economic development that could transform regions blighted by industries in decline. In 1988 South Dakota citizens voted to permit casinos in Wild Bill Hickok's old poker haunt, Deadwood. In 1989 Iowa legislators passed the Excursion Gambling Boat Act, which opened the way for modern riverboat casinos. During the next few years, Illinois, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Indiana introduced their own versions of riverboat gambling, and Colorado introduced limited-stakes casino gambling in three former mining towns.
In all of those instances, the states weren't just building casinos; they were resurrecting the past, creating Frontierlands for adults in a bid for the tourist trade. In Michigan, however, there was no historical precedent to rationalize the casinos, just an economy suffering from a faltering auto industry. In 1994 voters approved a referendum to allow casinos in Detroit. That same year, Iowa let its racetracks add slot machines to their facilities, thus creating the "racino." (Today, racinos operate in 10 states, and seven more are considering them.) And though it's still a legal gray area, online gambling is booming too, with more than 2,000 sites up and running.
The lottery has evolved too. Playing the original New Hampshire Sweepstakes was about as exciting as getting a driver's license: Tickets cost $3 apiece, they were sold at only three race tracks and 49 liquor stores, and drawings were held just twice a year. And when you purchased a ticket, you had to fill out a form with your address and phone number on it.
But then other states began introducing lotteries. The tickets got cheaper, the drawings more frequent. Next came scratch-off tickets, advertising on TV and radio, multi-state lotteries with bigger jackpots. In some states, you can use credit cards to purchase tickets; others offer subscriptions so you never miss a drawing. In Oregon you can bet on NFL games via the lottery; an increasing number of states use video lottery terminals that simulate slot machines.
What once was quarantined and exotic, limited to those who lived near Las Vegas or could afford to play there, is now commonplace and mundane. The neon glitz of the Strip has migrated to the drab fluorescence of convenience stores and the soft, ever-present glow of PC monitors.
Sin No More
"Not only does gambling dethrone God, but it degrades man," Rev. Robert McIntyre wrote in an early 20th century sermon. Gambling, McIntyre elaborated, turned men into "clammy vipers that crawl in the dank gloom of a sunless canyon." Worse: They become "serfs of Satan." They abandon their wives and children. They disappoint their parents. They turn to robbery and other crimes to finance their addiction but end up bankrupt just the same. The inevitable result of their affliction: "complete moral atrophy."
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