Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-30

a gan,bLing hall in the old mining days.
buying police protection? With gambling legal
lied prosperity will srile again on the fair
State of Nevada, they predict.
bling in the capital of Nevada. Every de-
vice known is conveniently located. NickelS
and dimes as welcome as the five and
twenty dollar bills. The response Of the public
to the gambling lure bears out the argument OF
the boss gamblers that there is streak Of the
speculative in every The gambling tr1um-
virate has not overlooked any bets in providing
means for availing ones self of the desire to
gamble. Thousands of slot machines are scat
tered over Reno so that children on the way TO
school or matrons on errands to the store may
risk a nickel or a dime and maybe get a hand
full Of money. There are nickel machines into
which one may drop a nickel and get $40. One
may drop dollar in machine and get $50
maybe.
These machines with pots of silver are dis
played in drug stores, grocery stores, hotel
Hobbies and restaurants. No, sir; if you want
to gamble, Reno has gone out of its way TO
provide the means.
Our games are on the square" said TEX"
Hail. eff We didn't run square games, we
wouldn't have the business"
But the slot machines are not for the big
time gamblers The willows, owned by Mckay,
Hall and Graham, is the 'hfgh-hat" place that
draws a snort from the frontier stud-poker
experts. It is three miles from Reno, on a
good road. and a veritable palace out of the
Arabian Nights. Luxurious to excess and
gaudier than a circus pageant, it has atmos-
phere that shrivels and humiliates $50 bill
The willows was decorated to attract the
wealthy divorces, and the number of women
who patronize the place indicates the habit is
not restricted to one sex. One speaks as casu-
ally of going to The willows to gamble as to
the theater. Cafe crowds discuss their earn.
ings. Beating the game" has attracted thou
sands Of experts, and there are enough systems
to wreck the bank If the systems always worked.
In the gaudier, higher-powered gambling
halls one gains the impression that these tits
with chance no longer are recreation. Gam
bling is an industry in Reno. and those who
match their dollars against the whirl of a
wheel make it a business instead of diversion.
4 NC THEIR outspoken defender of wide-open
gambling in Reno is Mayor E. E. Roberts.
Roberts is three jumps ahead of the average
liberal. He has been elected mayor three times,
and what he says about prohibition outclasses
Clarence S. Darrow His office is decorated
with playing cards and gilded and beribboned
champagne corks hang from the chandelier.
Il don't believe in prohibition or any kind
of so-called reform that takes from any man
or woman their right to find happiness in their
own way" he says. Il believe in letting a
man do anything he chooses as long as he
does not interfere with the rights of Others
would repeal all blue laws I would make
Reno the playground Of the world If there
is bootlegging of bad booze here would open
municipal distillery and make good liquor
and put it in barrels on every corner with
plenty Of tin dippers and labeled: Help your
self; get drunk If you want to- but look out!
Behave yourself at all timesr That would stop
bootlegging.
IT would have gambling legalized as it is
here, because close contact with gambling win
show any man with a lick of sense that he
can't win, and in that way gambling will kin
itself. Reno gets one-half, the State gets one
fourth and the county one-fourth of the license
money for gambling. This will give Reno more
than $4,000 year"
Bright lights, the soft patter of the dealer
as he clinks the silver dollars and a coSmo-
politan crowd-that is gambling under the new
wide-open law. No longer the games held
in back rooms and dingy cellars. The gam
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