Gambling in Post-Civil War America: Cards and Dice

Cards and dice, the staples of casino gambling, also flourished in post-Civil War America.

The Western frontier remained a legendary gambling territory, while the more established cities of the East, South, and Midwest witnessed a rebirth of enthusiasm for gambling casinos called 'dens', 'saloons', 'houses', 'palaces', 'hells', 'pits', 'halls', and 'parlors'.

Poker became the most popular betting card game in America, and the ability to bluff and keep a cool demeanor during a poker hand was deemed a sterling quality.

Grover Cleveland so admired the poker-playing ability of John Carlisle that he appointed him secretary of the treasury.

Legendary gamblers appeared on the American scene, George Devol plied his trade playing three-card Monte and faro on Mississippi steamboats.

Wild Bill Hickock dealt poker in Cheyenne, Doc holiday and Wyatt Earp ran a card club in Tombstone, Soapy Smith operated plush gambling halls in the Yukon Territory, Cornelius Vanderbilt played for hundreds of thousands in no-limit poker games with American industrialists, and Colonel Bradley opened a sumptuous betting club that catered to Palm Beach Society.

While players flocked to gambling establishments to indulge their fascination with cards and dice, society withheld approval of these activities.

The experiences of George Canfield illustrate the ambivalence toward casino gambling in a resort that dominated this period. Canfield got his start dealing cards in a resort owned by a New Hampshire society leader.

Arrested during a police raid (the owner had neglected to pay his police protection), he served six months in jail after being vigorously prosecuted by Samuel P. Colt, who later became president of U.S. Rubber.

After being released, Canfield opened a faro game in New York City, where he regularly paid police protection. As his game prospered, the cost of protection escalated.

Canfield then purchased a fashionable gambling casino at Saratoga Springs. He refurbished the casino in a style reminiscent of Monte carlo, importing ornate furniture, hiring the finest European chefs, and requiring participants to dress in formal attire.

In New York City, Canfield brought a palatial gambling hall near Delmonico's restaurant and catered to the city's wealthy.

Both of these casinos were allowed to operate because Canfield paid 10 percent of the profits to police officials.

When he refused to pay more, his casinos were raided and he was arrested and charged with illegal gambling. After lengthy legal proceedings, Canfield plead guilty and paid a one thousand dollar-fine.

He resumed operating his casinos but once again refused to pay exorbitant police protection fees. After being involved in several incidents with the police and grand juries, and after being the subject of negative editorial comments, Canfield closed his casinos and retired to live out his life in a New York brownstone.

Although he had been fantastically successful and was considered the 'prince of gamblers' for his honestly run games, Canfield lamented that, in the end, the hypocrisy of police officials and city fathers had pushed him out of the gaming business.

The invention of a mechanical device helped to revitalize gambling establishments. At the end of the nineteenth century, technologists developed a gambling device that was a forerunner of the slot machine.

The Little Gem was designed to produce poker hands on spinning reels. For as little as a nickel, gamblers could pull the lever and attempt to line up a royal flush and win five dollars.

These machines were later equipped with fruit figures, and the search for three lemons began.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, although they firmly established as part of American life, gambling was once again to experience a period of reform and subsequent retrenchment.