Nevada Gaming Commission

Gambling began in Nevada long before it became a territory, very much a part of life in a mining town. The discovery of the Comstock Lode saw gambling grow in proportion to the wealth extracted from what then seemed an inexhaustible supply.The territorial bill of 1861 declared gambling a felony, and succeeding Legislatures enacted laws prohibiting gambling. The Legislature of 1969 overrode the Governor's veto of a bill to legalized gambling. Between 1877 and 1907 there were regulations that addressed the major problems in gambling: location, population ratio relative to license fees, hours of operation, and cheating. At the same time there was a growing awareness of gambling as another source of revenue for the State.

In 1909 the anti-gambling bloc scored a victory, and the State witnessed what was considered the demise of gambling on September 30, 1910. Even with police enforcement, there were problems over the interpretation of the statutes as to when a game was a licit past time, and when it was a felony.

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