Do these numbers make sense?
It seems the resort/casino had 70 rooms and four tables-2 blackjack, one roulette and one craps. It also had 70 slot machines, mostly single coin dollar machines. I can't find the minimum on tables but the all you can eat buffet was $1.
Here is what I don't get- just weeks after opening, a deal was made to lease the casino for a million dollars a year, with six months rent upfront. This was in the early days of World War Two so not only was much of the target audience otherwise occupied, but gasoline was rationed.
In 1947, regulators allowed them to expand to six tables, so they added a second craps and roulette tables. The Hotel added space and by 1950, it had 110 rooms and was advertising 100 slot machines.
seventy machines 24 hours a day. gold mine.
In 1941, the population of Las Vegas was under 10,000 people. The army base now called Nellis trained some 650 students at a time and I doubt the students had time off to go to Las Vegas. Boulder Dam was guarded by 600 men who were specifically forbidden to go to casinos in Las Vegas. From talking to old timers, it was rare for people from Henderson to go to Las Vegas.
Quote: billryanI'm researching the original El Rancho, the first strip resort and am puzzled by the numbers I'm finding.
It seems the resort/casino had 70 rooms and four tables-2 blackjack, one roulette and one craps. It also had 70 slot machines, mostly single coin dollar machines. I can't find the minimum on tables but the all you can eat buffet was $1.
Here is what I don't get- just weeks after opening, a deal was made to lease the casino for a million dollars a year, with six months rent upfront. This was in the early days of World War Two so not only was much of the target audience otherwise occupied, but gasoline was rationed.
In 1947, regulators allowed them to expand to six tables, so they added a second craps and roulette tables. The Hotel added space and by 1950, it had 110 rooms and was advertising 100 slot machines.
here she is:
Quote: billryanI'm researching the original El Rancho, the first strip resort and am puzzled by the numbers I'm finding.
It seems the resort/casino had 70 rooms and four tables-2 blackjack, one roulette and one craps. It also had 70 slot machines, mostly single coin dollar machines. I can't find the minimum on tables but the all you can eat buffet was $1.
Here is what I don't get- just weeks after opening, a deal was made to lease the casino for a million dollars a year, with six months rent upfront. This was in the early days of World War Two so not only was much of the target audience otherwise occupied, but gasoline was rationed.
In 1947, regulators allowed them to expand to six tables, so they added a second craps and roulette tables. The Hotel added space and by 1950, it had 110 rooms and was advertising 100 slot machines.
Money laundering by the Mob would be my guess. They "made them an offer they couldn't refuse" and bought the action, which the El Rancho owners hosted, with Mob-owned managers and count room. Didn't really matter if the casino lost money, if the Mob could clean their hooker-guns-drug money by washing it through the casino, especially if they put shills at the tables.
Quote: beachbumbabsMoney laundering by the Mob would be my guess. They "made them an offer they couldn't refuse" and bought the action, which the El Rancho owners hosted, with Mob-owned managers and count room. Didn't really matter if the casino lost money, if the Mob could clean their hooker-guns-drug money by washing it through the casino, especially if they put shills at the tables.
That was my conclusion ,as well. The guy who leased El Rancho turns up running the Flamingo after Bugsy was killed.
