Famous Gamblers in the United States
America's thriving industrialism, together with the influx of immigrants during the latter half of the nineteenth century, restructured America into a largely urban society.
By 1915, only seven states permitted horse racing. However, the public's desire to gamble persisted. Gambling syndicates developed in the city slums and when the Prohibition era began, gambling evolved into an organized, national system.
The creator of this nationwide business was Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein operated in Chicago and devised the practice of helping syndicates in other cities to cover risky bets; the system spread to encompass a loose conglomerate of organized crime.
He was also the instigator of the 1919 World Series Scandal during which the White Sox deliberately lost the Series to the Cincinnati Reds.
Rothstein's heirs were among the infamous citizens of the day--- Al Capone, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, Frank Nitti, Bugsy Siegel, and others like them.
These men were high-profile mobsters who dealt in misery and violence.
Colonel Edward R. Bradley is generally credited with being the first person to allow respectable women to gamble in his gambling club. This circumstance came about through Henry M. Flagler, who built a railroad that ran from the North to the South.
He erected hotels, churches, and some gambling houses along the way. By 1894, his railroad reached Palm Beach, Florida; he built the Royal Poinciana Hotel, and the royal Poinciana Chapel and Beach Club.
Flagler hired Colonel Bradley to run his gambling club. Bradley had been very much influenced by the elegant gambling clubs run by John Morrissey and Richard Canfield. To gain admittance to the Beach Club, gentlemen had to wear evening clothes, no one younger than twenty-five was allowed, and no free food was provided.
Women and local residents were not allowed to enter. As a result, the Club did not show a profit in the first year of its operation. Bradley decided to permit society women, both young and old, to enter the hallowed halls, and was well pleased with the results.
Flagler did not approve of this new wrinkle; in fact, he came to disapprove of gambling altogether. He tried to oust the Colonel from his post after Bradley refused to change his policy, but to no avail.
Bradley eventually built a much larger club in 1912 and hired renowned chefs to cook haute cuisine. The casino was only open in the winter when society people traveled to Florida. His wealthy patrons enjoyed playing a game somewhat like blackjack, chemin-de-fer, hazard, and poker for enormous stakes.
Gambling was not legalized in Florida, but no successful attempt was made to close down Bradley's casino.
His club was the main attraction enticing high society to Plam Beach until 1946, when Bradley died. In his will, he stipulated that the Beach Club was to be torn down and all the gambling equipment dumped into the ocean.
Old-time patrons insist that Palm Beach has never been the same since. When Flagler's railroad reached Miami, Florida, it, too, became a gambling town.
Gaming existed on a small-time basis until the 1920s when Al Capone's mob moved into town. He had interests in a large number of businesses and hotels where gambling was the greatest draw.
He avoided trouble with the local law by bribing them. By the 1930s, Miami Beach casinos brought in first-class entertainers like Helen Morgan, Jack Benny, and Sophie Tucker to dazzle the tourists.
Capone's influence waned and his predecessors now ran the show. Race tracks and dog tracks were built and jai-alai became prevalent when Cuban exiles moved into Miami after Castro's revolution.
The authorities cracked down on organized crime in the 1950s and Miami's mobsters entered into legitimate businesses as a front for their gambling enterprises, while others made the move to Las Vegas.