INTRODUCTION TO FARO This gambling game was extremely popular in the American Wild West and the gold rush, today Faro is a lesser known and enjoyed game, having gone out of style in the 1950s. It’s believed to have originated in France sometime in the late 17th century and was called “Pharaon.”.

• Wild West Gamblers
• Wild West Cedar Park
• Famous Wild West Female Gamblers

Whether on a riverboat atop the Mighty Mississippi or in the smoky dimness of a mining camp saloon, a lucky draw could turn a broken man into a winner. In the days of the frontier west, poker was king with the mustachioed likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, “Canada” Bill Jones, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and hundreds of others.

In the old west towns of Deadwood, Dodge City, Tombstone, and Virginia City, gamblers played with their back to the wall and their guns at their sides, as dealers dealt games with names such as Chuck-A-Luck, Three Card Monte, High Dice, and Faro, by far the favorite in the wild west saloons.

The exact origin of poker is unknown but many have speculated that it originated from the 16th-century Persian card game called As Nas. Played with a 25 card deck containing five suits, the rules were similar to today’s Five Card Stud. Others are of the opinion that it was invented by the Chinese in 900 A.D. In all likelihood, the game derived from elements of various gambling diversions that have been around from the beginning of time.

Poker in the United States was first widely played in New Orleans by French settlers playing a card game that involved bluffing and betting called Poque in the early 1800s. This old poker game was similar to the “draw poker” game we play today. New Orleans evolved as America’s first gambling city as riverboat men, plantation owners and farmers avidly pursued the betting sport.

The first American gambling casino was opened in New Orleans around 1822 by a man named John Davis. The club, open twenty-four hours a day, provided gourmet food, liquor, roulette wheels, Faro tables, poker, and other games. Davis also made certain that painted ladies were never far away. Dozens of imitators soon followed making the gaming dens the primary attraction of New Orleans. The city’s status as an international port and its thriving gambling industry created a new profession, called the card “sharper.”

1. May 20, 2019 The (Less) Wild West of Online Gambling Introduction It is true that online gambling can be a pain for many U.S. Players, bit it might become less of a pain in the few States (and potentially more to follow) who have already legalized, or may legalize, online gambling.
2. Phil Coe – Old West Gunfighter and Gambler Called one of the greatest gunfighters in Texas, Phillip “Phil” Coe was also a soldier, a gambler, a businessman, and called the famous Ben Thompson, gunman, and gambler, one of his best friends.
3. Gambling is a prominent feature in a number of old western movies. You’ve probably seen these scenes yourself, where a bunch old cowboys are sitting around a table playing cards, and then they have a disagreement, and go outside for a duel.

Professional gamblers and cheats gathered in a waterfront area known as “the swamp,” an area even the police were afraid to frequent, and any gambler lucky enough to win stood a good chance of losing his earnings to thieves outside of the gambling rooms and saloons.

Gambling was outlawed in the rest of the huge Louisiana territory in 1811, but New Orleans continued to enjoy the prosperity brought by gambling for more than 100 years. Though the law was passed for the entire Louisiana Purchase, it was obviously not enforced and casinos and gambling began to spread.

As commerce developed on the waterways, gambling traveled up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, then westward via covered wagons, and later on the railroad. The first written reference in the United States came from Jonathan H. Greer in 1834 when he referred to the amusement as the “cheating game.”

Some of the first gambling dens outside of New Orleans were started on river towns that were popular with both travelers and professional gamblers. It was here that many “sharpers” preyed on these transient people, with their pockets filled with their life savings, on the way to the new frontier. The dishonest gamblers also often ran confidence games and other con artist businesses, in order to gaff the unwary pioneers. A host of companies specialized in manufacturing and selling card cheating devices. One riverboat gambler named George Devol was so proud of his ability to slip a stacked deck into a game that he once used four of them in one poker hand, dealing four aces to each of his four opponents.

It was professional gamblers who were largely responsible for the poker boom. Considering themselves as entrepreneurs, they took advantage of America’s growing obsession with gambling. Though having a high opinion of themselves, the public viewed them with disdain, considering them as contributing nothing to society. This viewpoint was often warranted in many cases, as a large number of professional gamblers often cheated in order to win. To be successful, professional gamblers had to have irresistible personalities in order to attract men to play with them. Often dressing in dandy clothes, their success depended partly on chance and partly on skill, sometimes on sleight of hand, and in the Old West, their shooting abilities. By the 1830s, citizens began to blame professional gamblers for any and every crime in the area and gambling itself began to be attacked.

James Bowie

It was during these riverboat gambling heydays that an interesting story occurred in 1832. On a Mississippi steamboat, four men were playing poker, three of which were professional gamblers, and the fourth, a hapless traveler from Natchez. Soon, the young naïve man had lost all his money to the rigged game. Devastated, the Natchez man planned to throw himself into the river; however, an observer prevented his suicide attempt, and then joined the card game with the “sharps.” In the middle of a high stakes hand, the stranger caught one of the professionals cheating and pulled a knife on the gambler, yelling, “Show your hand! If it contains more than five cards I shall kill you!” When he twisted the cheater’s wrist, six cards fell to the table. Immediately, the stranger took the $70,000 pot, returning $50,000 to the Natchez man and keeping $20,000 for his trouble. Shocked, the Natchez man stuttered, “Who the devil are you, anyway?” to which the stranger responded, “I am James Bowie.”

Anxious citizens of these river port towns grew more and more wary of the confidence men that were multiplying so quickly. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the citizens’ rage had become so increased by 1835, five cardsharps were lynched by a vigilante group. It was soon after this that many of the gamblers moved onto the riverboats, benefiting from the transient riverboat lifestyle.

At the conclusion of the Civil War, America pushed her boundaries West, where the frontier was born of speculators, travelers, and miners. These hardy pioneers had high risk-taking characteristics, making any gambling situation a popular pastime for these rough and tumble men of the frontier. In virtually every mining camp and prairie town, a poker table could soon be found in each saloon, surrounded by prospectors, lawmen, cowboys, railroad workers, soldiers, and outlaws for a chance to tempt fortune and fate.

During the California Gold Rush of 1849 gambling houses sprouted up all over northern California, offering a wide array of not only gaming tables but also musicians and pretty women to entertain the gamblers as they played. It was at this time that dance halls began to appear and spread throughout later settlements. While these saloons usually offered games of chance, their chief attraction was dancing. The customer generally paid 75¢ to $1.00 for a ticket to dance, with the proceeds being split between the dance hall girl and the saloon owner. After the dance, the girl would steer the gentleman to the bar, where she would make an additional commission from the sale of a drink.

A popular girl would average 50 dances a night, sometimes making more a night than a working man could make in a month. Dance hall girls made enough money that it was very rare for them to double as a prostitute, in fact, many former “soiled doves” found they could make more money as a dance hall girl.

As the Gold Rush gained momentum, San Francisco replaced New Orleans as the center for gambling in the United States. Over one hundred thriving saloons and brothels met the sailors and fortune-seeking travelers as they disembarked at the San Francisco harbor and stumbled into the infamous Barbary Coast Waterfront District.

Faro was by far the most popular and prolific game played in Old West saloons, followed by Brag, Three-card-monte, and dice games such as High-low, Chuck-a-luck, and Grand hazard. It was also about this time that gambling began to invite more diversity including Hispanics, blacks, Chinese and women in the games. Three of the more famous women gamblers of this time were Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, and Madame Mustache.

Before long, many of the Old West mining camps such as Deadwood, Leadville, and Tombstone became as well known for gunfights over card games than they did for their wealth of gold and silver ore. Professional gamblers such as Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickok learned early to hone their six-shooter skills at the same pace as their gambling abilities. Taking swift action upon the green cloth became part of the gamblers’ code – shoot first and ask questions later.

One such occasion that clearly showed the quick and violent code was when Doc Holliday was dealing Faro to a local bully named Ed Bailey in Fort Griffin, Texas. Bailey was unimpressed with Doc’s reputation and in an attempt to irritate him; he kept picking up the discards and looking at them. Peeking at the discards was strictly prohibited by the rules of Western Poker, a violation that could force the player to forfeit the pot.

Though Holliday warned Bailey twice, the bully ignored him and picked up the discards again. This time, Doc raked in the pot without showing his hand, nor saying a word. Bailey immediately brought out his pistol from under the table, but before the man could pull the trigger, Doc’s lethal knife slashed the man across the stomach. With blood spilled everywhere, Bailey lay sprawled out dead across the table.

Inevitably there were liquored up miners and cowboys who would shoot up the saloons and sometimes the poker winner when they were angered by their losses. Even Wild Bill Hickok, who is mostly known for his heroics and prowess with a six-shooter, took advantage of those abilities when faced with a loss in Deadwood, South Dakota. Shortly before midnight after a night of drinking and gambling, Hickok was playing a two-handed game with a man named McDonald when the stakes began to increase with every card dealt.

When the hand was complete and the middle of the table piled high with money, McDonald showed his hand, displaying three jacks. To this, Hickok responded, “I have a full house – aces over sixes,” then threw his hand face down upon the table. However, when McDonald picked up Hickok’s hand, he exclaimed, “I see only two aces and one six.” Wasting no time, Wild Bill drew his six-shooter with his right hand and replied, “Here’s my other six.” Then he flashed a bowie knife with his left hand, stating, “And here’s my one spot.” McDonald immediately backed down saying coolly, “That hand is good. Take the pot.”

By the end of the 19th century, gambling had spread like wildfire through the many mining camps, multiplying as the gold and silver hunters spread across the West, searching for new strikes. It was about this time that both states and cities started to take advantage of these growing ventures by taxing gambling dens and raising money for their communities.

It was also during the late 1800s that many towns and states across the western frontier began to enact new laws against gambling. Attempting to gain new levels of respectability, the laws primarily targeted the “professional gambler” more than gaming in general. Some types of gambling were made illegal, while limits were established on others. Initially, anti-gaming laws were weak and had little real effect on gambling, as they were difficult to enforce, establishments simply introduced new variants, and penalties were light.

Faro gambling card game about 1900.

However, the laws were gradually strengthened and ironically, Nevada was one of the first states in the West to totally make gambling illegal in 1909. Other states soon followed suit and true to the worst fears of the Puritans, gangsters combined liquor and gambling in the cities of New York, Cleveland and Chicago during the 1920s.

By the time construction on the Hoover Dam was underway in 1931, Nevada relaxed its gambling laws and casinos once more began to flourish. By 1939 there were six casinos and sixteen saloons in Las Vegas. As automobile traffic increased and people began to travel more for leisure, Las Vegas began to boom into the gambling Mecca it is today.

Over the years, poker has evolved through legitimate casinos and backroom games to its many present variations. Over the last decade several states have reintroduced gambling in limited formats and the fastest-growing gambling opportunity today doesn’t even require you to leave your home, as you log onto your computer to tempt the fates. Carefully regulated by gaming laws, poker is now the most popular card game in the world.

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated November 2019.

“If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.” –– Paul Newman

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With casinos sprinkled all across America today, most people think they have a grasp on the fine art of gambling. During the 1800s, however, gambling in the Wild West was quite different. Especially in the Wild West, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought thousands of prospectors who enjoyed trying their luck at games of chance in places like San Francisco. Soon, primitive gaming houses were popping up everywhere, from large cities to small mining camps. Long before theaters and other forms of recreational entertainment were built, the mostly male populations of these places engaged in what History Net calls the 'Triple-W' vices — 'whiskey-drinking, whoring, and wagering.'

Far from the glitzy casinos seen today, early gambling joints could range from 'a board stretched between two whiskey barrels' to fancier wood or brick buildings adorned with elegant bars, mirrors, expensive wallpaper, and twinkling chandeliers. But Gambling Sites rightfully points out that today's love for poker in particular has made the card game a staple of many a western movie, usually taking place in a stereotypical saloon or tent. In truth, however, there were several other ways to win, or lose, one's hard-earned money. Read on for a taste of what it was really like to gamble in the Wild West.

The evolution of gambling in America

Best Casino Sites submits that gambling began as a way to battle boredom on the various riverboats cruising around in the east. The first official casino, Crescent City House, opened in New Orleans in 1827. The games of chance in the famed 'Paris of the South' had made their way west by 1849, where San Francisco soon replaced New Orleans as a gambling mecca, says Legends of America. Frisco's early casinos offered such games as 'Vingt-et-un' (today's Blackjack), Monte, and Faro, all games brought over from New Orleans.

Between 1850 and 1910, says Tombstone Travel Tips, 'wagering' became all the rage as a most popular form of entertainment. As gambling joints reaped more profits, their owners were able to upgrade their primitive businesses from simple tents and shacks to grander 'lounges.' In Tombstone, Ariz., proper there were some 18 gambling halls, including the lavishly decorated Bird Cage Theater (pictured), by 1880-81. By then, just about every town across the West offered betting games in some form or another. Some men (and women) became professional gamblers, although True West points out they were nothing like the pros seen today who hide behind sunglasses, hats, and other distractions to disguise their 'tells.' Players had their choice of lush gaming houses across the West, from the Bird Cage to the even more elite clubs like the Cheyenne Club in Wyoming.

The card games: 21, Faro, Monte, and Poker

Card games were some of the earliest forms of gambling in the West. One of the earliest popular games was 'Vingt-et-un,' the French name for today's 21, or Blackjack. The game remains similar, wherein a player vied for cards totaling 21 without going over. Beginning in 1825, says Real Money, Faro (also of French origin) was also a favorite game. The dealer dealt two cards. The first was the loser, the second the winner. Players bet which would be which until all the cards had been dealt. Sound complicated? Gather Together Games has a video explaining the game.

Although Faro (pictured) was the most favored card game in the West, says Gambling Sites, there was also Monte. The game was played a variety of ways, explains Western Fictioneers, and was quite popular — although Three Card Monte is today known as nothing more than a swindle, says Real Money. Last is poker, which also originated in New Orleans, according to Legends of America. Back then, the game was much the same as today, with a few exceptions — only face cards and tens were used, and players were dealt all of the cards with no draw. Draw Poker, meanwhile, used all 52 cards and was known as Jackpots — the very game the legendary Wild Bill Hickok was playing when he died.

The table games: Hazard, Keno, and Roulette

Ever heard of Hazard? A predecessor of today's Craps, Hazard consisted of a player rolling two dice while calling out a number between 5 and 9, explains Gambling Sites. Roll the number and win. Roll 2 or 3 and lose. But rolling 6, 8, 11, or 12 on subsequent rolls, and a player could win or lose depending on the winning number. Players had three chances to lose before the dice passed to the next player. Chuck-a-Luck was a popular game too, because the stakes were lower for those with less money. Three dice were placed in a small, special cage says Casino City Times. Bettors waged on whether which number die would roll out, as well as two of a kind and three of a kind. Those who couldn't afford the cage used a tin horn instead, hence the phrase 'Tin Horn Gambler.'

Ever popular, Roulette was also a French game that came West from New Orleans. But Roulette on Web explains that American casinos didn't like the odds the French version gave players and added extra zeroes and an Eagle symbol, which denoted a house win. And Keno pretty much was the same as now, with players placing a bet on a certain set of numbers to be chosen by draw. In Tombstone, Ariz., says Tombstone Travel Tips, one gaming joint employed a town crier to roam the streets announcing the next game.

Sports betting was immensely popular

Long before baseball, basketball, and football, gamblers bet on other 'sporting' events. The most gruesome of these, says True West, were 'bull and bear' fights wherein the animals were pitted against each other. Cockfights and dogfights were equally popular. Classier folks bet on human footraces, horse and dog races, and competitions between miners in the gold rush towns or loggers in the logging towns. Rifle matches were also quite popular. One of the wildest sporting events in American history was a real bullfight at Gillett, Colo., which has been labeled 'both a scandal and a scam.'

Then there was boxing, which City Journal says dates back to when plantation owners 'pitted slaves against one another and wagered on the outcomes.' By the 1880s boxing was more professional (but still illegal), with famous figures like Tommy Burns, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Jake Kilrain, John L. Sullivan, and others emerging as professional boxers. Later, professional baseball, basketball, and football teams caught the eye of gamblers according to Chase Law. In time, what are known today as 'off-track betting parlors' became popular, so wagers could be made via telegraph and 'pari-mutuel' machines without having to travel to the event itself.

The origins of slot machines

The ol' 'one-armed bandit' came on the betting scene fairly late in the Wild West era but remains quite popular today. Britannica explains that the term 'slot machine' was short for 'nickel-in-the-slot machine,' once the only denomination used. The first of these debuted in America during the 1880s but were initially 'novelties' wherein a toy horse race or other entertaining event took place, and those betting on the winner got a cigar or cocktail on the house. The first actual poker machine, says Online Casinos, appeared in 1891. Like its predecessors, winners received complimentary bar fare instead of cash.

Not until the mid-1890s did Charles Fey, a mere mechanic in San Francisco, introduce an actual slot machine that rewarded players with money, says Chase Law. Fey's Liberty Bell slot machine in 1894 and Card Bell slot machine in 1898 proved quite popular (and collectible, since most of the Liberty Bells were destroyed during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906). Other manufacturers followed, and today Casino News Daily reports there are hundreds of different slots out there. Many, however, no longer pay cash but feature 'TITO,' which Konami explains stands for 'ticket in ticket out' for payment at the cashier's window. Disgruntled casino employees who see less cash payouts right from the machines have been known to say TITO stands for 'tipping is totally optional.'

How cheaters cheated at gambling

Make no mistake, there's a reason gamblers openly brought their guns to the table in the Wild West. Legends of America calls it 'the gamblers' code — shoot first and ask questions later.' It is true that firearms had no place among liquor-soaked losers who suspected a cheat, but that was the way it was in those days. Indeed, gaming houses were full of 'card sharps' (not 'card sharks,' explains Portable Press) who knew all sorts of ways to part a gambler from his money. True West cites E.M. Grandine and Doctor Cross & Co. as two manufacturers of marked playing cards during the mid-1830s. And there were many other ways to cheat as well.

Grandine also invented an array of delightful devices for card cheats, including bags to attach to the underside of tables and contraptions for concealing cards 'on the body.' Dealers sometimes dealt from the bottom of the deck, while players could secretly 'palm' or 'skin the hand' to play or discard cards of their choosing. Those wanting to learn to cheat could also consult S.W. Erdnase's 1901 book, The Expert at the Card Table (the author's name, E.S. Andrews, was simply his name spelled backwards). Throughout the 1800s, manufacturers also sold 'cheat dealing boxes,' says Tombstone Travel Tips, which were especially handy for houses wanting to increase their odds against the players.

Soapy Smith, the biggest con of them all

Jefferson Randolph Smith was nicknamed for his first con during the 1870s, according to Legends of America. He would stand with a table of soap in front of him, cheerfully wrapping each bar with paper money followed by plain paper. Onlookers were told each bar held money as one of Smith's cohorts purchased one and found a $100 bill in it for all to see. Subsequent buyers, of course, found no money with their soap. Smith also loved games of chance, telling others, 'I am no ordinary gambler. The ordinary gambler hazards his own money in an attempt to win another's. When I stake money, it is a sure thing that I win' (per History Net).

Using cheating devices and other forms of deceit, Smith wrangled enough ill-gotten cash to make his way to Skagway, Alaska, in 1897. But his lack of scruples angered the townsfolk, who formed a committee, according to History, to catch swindlers like Smith. In turn, Smith formed his own group. That didn't go over well with the others, who were discussing how to proceed when Smith crashed their party in 1898. Engineer Frank Reid battled it out with Smith. 'My god, don't shoot!' Smith cried out according to his family's Soapy Smith web page. But Reid did shoot, and Smith was killed.

Famous gamblers of the Wild West

Wild Bill Hickok. Doc Holliday. Bat Masterson. These are just a few of the names Encyclopedia throws out as some of the most famous gamblers in the West. Hickok (pictured), according to Right Casino, was a Civil War veteran known for the numerous gunfights in which he participated. When he was shot to death in a Deadwood casino in 1876, the poker hand he was holding included two aces and two eights, forever to be known as a 'dead man's hand.' Masterson, a former buffalo hunter, according to History, used his winnings to promote prize fights and funding 'multiple passions' both before becoming a law-abiding sheriff. Masterson's buddy, the notorious Doc Holliday, was also a professional gambler with a bad temper. And let's not forget Masterson's and Holliday's legendary friend Wyatt Earp, whose 'aggressive playing style' made him famous throughout the west.

Lesser known gamblers include Charles Cora, the New Orleans Faro player whom The Belle Cora records as a professional gambler who married his sex worker sweetheart and was accused of murder in San Francisco before being publicly hanged. Head Stuff cites Luke Short as the 'gunfighting gambler' who honed his craft in Leadville, Colo. True West writer Robert McCubbin notes that another famous gambler, John Wesley Hardin, played with 'an ever-present chip on his shoulder and a gun within reach.' Like Hickok, he too was killed during a card game.

The ladies who were gamblers

Gambling in the Old West wasn't just a man's game. Plenty of noted women were professional gamblers too. One of the earliest of these was Doña María Gertrudes Barceló, better known as Doña Tules, whom History in Santa Fe explains ran a noted gambling den and brothel in Santa Fe, N.M., during the 1840s and 50s. Then there was Eleanora Dumont, the famous 'Madam Moustache,' who gambled her way across the West starting in the 1840s before committing suicide in Bodie, Calif., in 1879. Carlotta Thompkins, aka Lottie Deno, took Texas by storm in the mid-1860s and eventually retired comfortably in New Mexico, according to Tombstone Travel Tips.

There are more. Minnie Smith, also known as Minnie the Gambler, once horsewhipped a man she caught cheating at cards in Colorado. Kitty Leroy of Texas arrived in Deadwood, S.D., with enough money to open the Mint Gambling Saloon, says Right Casino. Unfortunately, Legends of America documents her as being shot to death by her fifth husband in 1877. Last but certainly not least was Alice Ivers Duffield Tubbs Huckert, known as Poker Alice (pictured) to her friends. True West describes her as a talented Faro and poker player across the West. Poker Alice's career began after she found herself widowed with no support, and Deadwood says she died happy in South Dakota in 1930.

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Gambling was eventually outlawed

Not so surprisingly, betting games were frowned upon by proper society and the authorities by the early 1800s, when Tombstone Travel Tips notes that churches back east objected to them. The movement traveled west, and by the late 1800s, says Legends of America, various cities, towns, and states began enacting a bevy of laws against gambling. Some games were merely restricted, while others were outlawed in their entirety. Penalties were initially mild but increased over time. By 1896, newspapers such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer were noting that although the city had ordinances against gambling, it was still going on.

In Montana, a February 1900 issue of the Billings Gazette outright declared, 'Gambling Must Stop' on the front page. It was the end of an era filled with colorful players and wild games of chance as the moral majority began looking down on those who dared to gamble, says Encyclopedia. Not all gamblers were unhappy about it. One veteran gambler, B.S. Comstock, opined that gambling and booze went hand in hand and should be outlawed. Little by little, one by one, states across the West began outlawing gambling with stiff penalties for violators. Nevada was among the first to outlaw gaming altogether in 1909, while the territories of New Mexico and Arizona were told in 1912 that they could only become states if they closed their casinos.

The years of illegal gaming

As gambling was slowly but surely outlawed across America, laws against it were fine-tuned to prevent any misunderstandings. Chase Law quotes a California Penal Code describing a slew of games, from Faro to Monte to 21 and more, that were now illegal to play. Towns in Texas, Oregon, and other places followed suit. A 'Commission on the Review of the National Policy Towards Gambling' report notes that even playing cards at home was even forbidden in Prescott, Ariz. What to do but go underground? Indeed, slot machine manufacturers in San Francisco simply rigged their one-armed bandits so that no coins went in, and payouts were made by the house, says Britannica. Other companies revamped their machines to supposedly dispense chewing gum and candy instead of cash.

Interestingly, according to Swamp, certain exceptions were made for churches and 'state-sponsored lotteries' who could play bingo and other harmless games to make money. But especially with the enactment of nationwide Prohibition starting in 1919, underworld gangsters took over the now illicit gaming industry. Organized crime became big business as speakeasies quietly popped up to replace the once legal casinos. Texas Guinan was just one of many to run illegal speakeasies back east, as well as in the west. Finally, according to HG Legal Resources, the stock market crash of 1929 led to legalizing gambling in places like Nevada, where lucky Las Vegas and other cities remain gambling meccas today.

Wild West Gamblers

The games remain the same today

Wild West Cedar Park

Today's avid gambler can wager his or her hard-earned cash on a variety of racing events, or sports, or pretty much anything sports betting places have to offer. With legal gaming of one sort or another in 25 states as of 2020, according to the American Gaming Association, it's easier than ever to place your bets on a variety of games — many which are derived from the betting games from the Old West. Still popular, confirms Gaming Zion, are Blackjack, Poker and Roulette. The old dice game of Hazard is now known as Craps. And, Chase Law notes, Baccarat remains a favorite of gamblers from China especially.

Famous Wild West Female Gamblers

What about slot machines? Although yesterday's quaint reel-to-reel slots have morphed into glitzy cartoons on a screen (and few retain the lever you pull to make it go), Britannica maintains that even casinos like the slots since they are actually 'the largest profit generator' in any given gaming house. Those who can't get to a casino in person can also find all kinds of internet casinos too, although the Wizard of Odds explains that the legality of online gambling remains very tricky. The site also shows which states allow internet gambling and which do not. But let's face it — online gambling doesn't come close to what it was like to gamble in the Wild West.