Bonus Spy

Far West Gambling Laws

Despite regulation, many Far West gambling operations bordered on fraud.

The governor of New Mexico described the house advantages as being 'enormous', the player having a 250% less chance of winning than in some of the more respectable casinos.

In Montana, where certain types of casino games were welcomed, Three-Card Monte, strap games, Thimble-Rig Black and Red, the Ten Dice game, Faro, and 'any other game where fraud or cheating was practiced' were nonetheless banished.

The penalty for violators was severe: up to five years in the county jail, a maximum of $1,000 fine, or both.

Gambling fraud was considered a serious offense not only because innocent players were fleeced, but also because suspected cheaters--- along with a few bystanders--- were often shot.

The implication was that the territory would have to dispel, among other things, its general reputation for lawlessness by prohibiting gambling.

In most Far Western states, the years just before statehood were marked by conflict between the federally appointed governor and the popularly elected legislatures.

The governors, who were often outsiders, tried endlessly to direct the legislatures toward banning gambling.

The legislatures' reaction was usually to balk at being told what to do.

By the time Kansas and Nebraska were granted statehood, the small farming community had become the dominant political unit on the prairies.

The cowboys farther west continued to tread lightly on gamblers, but the farmers redoubled their efforts to banish gambling completely.

One form singled out for special attack was the lottery. The original constitutions of many of the farm states included express provisions against legislatively authorized lotteries.

Since lotteries were never prevalent in the West, it is difficult to explain these measures as responses to particular abuses, as in the East.

They are best seen as symbolic gestures against legislatively franchised privilege and legislative corruption.

Thus, they are really eastern law carried to the West. Western populists remembering lotteries chiefly for the corruption and privilege that they represented in the East, prohibited them wherever they went.

Soon after statehood, the Western farm states enacted a series of statutes intended to add enforcement techniques to their initial gambling statutes.

Public officials who failed to pursue and prosecute gambling offenders were subject to punishment.

Witness statutes were also added to the gambling prohibitions, and vagrancy laws were expanded to include the 'common gambler'. If nothing else, the vagrancy laws could be used to harass gamblers to leave town.

Bucket shops were open to conduct what appeared to be bona fide futures transactions, but were in reality wagering contracts.

Most states enacted bucket shop provisions to distinguish between authentic futures delivery contracts and illegal stock gambling.

The desire to achieve statehood eventually moved even reluctant states to adopt a ban on commercial gambling. In a 1907 conversation with New Mexico's newly appointed territorial governor, President Theodore Roosevelt personally outlined the terms of statehood.