Casino For You

  Fill a room full of flashing lights, loud noises and loads of cash, and what are you most likely going to attract? Criminal masterminds! Casino heists are common in the industry, and while many perpetrators have snatched the cash and chips never to be seen again, the same cannot be said for the following casino crime participants. At EjWagner-CrimeHistorian.com we have taken a special interest in crime which occurs in the land-based casino and gambling environments, and not only do we report on gambling crime history, but we also provide the last casino crime news.

I have a gambling addiction. It took me a long while, and a lot of money and stress, before I realised it. But that’s the truth of the matter. I can look you in the eye today and tell you that I’m a compulsive gambler. My addiction started in my early twenties. Me and my mates liked a flutter at the bookies, every now and then, to liven up a Saturday night out. Usually we’d put on an accumulator and watch the results come in at the pub. It was fun, a buzz, especially on the rare occasion that one of us would score. By my mid-twenties, most of my mates were settling down and having kids. They didn’t have as much time to go down the pub, or the bookies for that matter, but I wasn’t interested in slowing down. My weekend gambling was what got me through the week. It was all I could think of to get me through the boredom of work and everyday life. But it wasn’t enough. As well as being a regular at the local betting shop, I’d joined a nearby casino. I began playing the Black Jack tables an

  Vice and dice . . . they roll together. And from the beginning, organized crime has had its hand in Las Vegas. Called an “open town,” Las Vegas became a magnet for syndicate bosses from Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and other eastern cities. Sniffing easy money, the underworld families saw new profit centres in this new city. In the late 1930s, Meyer Lansky and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel consolidated a bookmakers’ national network in Las Vegas, meaning that betting lines and cash were wired through town. After dabbling in downtown casinos, Siegel set his sights on creating a full-fledged resort. Construction of the Flamingo began in 1946, but cost overruns taxed the patience of his mob financiers. When the casino finally opened and immediately flopped, Siegel was a marked man. Suspected of syphoning money for himself, he was gunned down at his Beverly Hills home, and a Las Vegas legend was born. The mob didn’t skip a beat. Phoenix boss Gus Greenbaum took over the Flamingo, a

 Monte Carlo, located in the Principality of Monaco along the French Riviera, is hailed as one of the most luxurious and exquisite gambling destinations. The small spit of land that is Monte Carlo is home to only a few casinos, but they are world class, nonetheless. Built in 1863 the Casino de Monte Carlo is definitely one of the most ornate and splendid casinos in the entire world. The architect, Charles Gaurnier of Paris Opera House fame, designed the building. Fantastic rooms adorned with almost overdone rococo styling, compared to contemporary tastes, offer varying types of mostly European style gaming. One of the more ornately styled rooms is exclusively reserved for European casino games, the traditional games of Monte Carlo. European and English Roulette, Punta Banco, Chemin de Fer and Banque a Deux Tableaux are typical of the European games offered. The Salle Blanche, the one room compromised for American gaming, houses the very modern state-of-the-art slot machines. The slots

 The Casino de Monte-Carlo is widely-known for its history, its European games and the “resort” to which it belongs, still the most important in the world in terms of prestige and for its wide variety of establishments. The world’s most prestigious casino’s projecting façade was completed in 1890. Designed by French architect Jules Touzet (1850–1914), Officer of the Academy and a graduate of the School of Fine Arts of Paris, the building is enhanced by a wrought-iron awning and two pavilions crowned by domes covered in ceramics which frame the entrance. From 1890 to 1892, the two turrets were adorned with clocks : one giving the time in Monaco, the other in Paris, whence “La Seine” and “La Méditerranée”, two statues by Italian sculptor Fabio Stecchi (born in Urbino in 1855 – died in Nice), a pupil of Pio Fedi (1816–1892) in Florence, then of Paul Dubois (1829–1905) in Paris. Stecchi first settled in Paris in 1879, then moved to Nice where he lived until his death. Two more statues by t

 Pathological gambling, commonly referred to as compulsive gambling, is a progressive behaviour disorder in which a person has a psychologically uncontrollable preoccupation and urge to gamble. This results in excessive gambling, the outcome of which is the loss of time and money. The gambling reaches the point where it compromises, disrupts and destroys the gambler’s personal life, family relationships or vocational pursuits. These problems lead to the intensification of the gambling behaviour. Very often compulsive gambling is referred to as the “hidden illness” because there are no physical or visual symptoms. There is no “telltale” smell on the breath, no stumbling when walking or slurring of speech. Yet, the effects of compulsive gambling can be as devastating as alcohol and drug addiction and can result in both financial and personal destruction. Since 1980, the American Psychological Association has classified pathological, or compulsive gambling, as a mental health disorder of

  The film adaptation of Molly Bloom’s 2014 memoir hit U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, and to promote the project Bloom made her interview rounds. In a chat in November with Ellen DeGeneres, Bloom revealed the biggest poker loss she ever saw first-hand.  “I saw someone lose $100 million in a night,” Bloom told DeGeneres. She added that the player “paid the next day.” Bloom said the buy-in for her most expensive and exclusive games, which ran in L.A. and later New York City, was $250,000.  That was presumably the minimum buy-in. Celebrities in her games, which kicked off around the height of the poker boom in the mid-2000s, included Alex Rodriguez, Dan Bilzerian, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Toby Maguire and Nick Cassavetes, as well as billionaires such as Alec Gores and Andy Beal.