Whats The Origin of the Word 'Flea' in Vegas?

I've heard it dates to the 40's when buses would come into town loaded with hick players with no money and lots of fleas. True?

I would guess rather along the lines that they are tiny (insignificant) and cause nothing but a nuisance.

Maybe the opposite in size of a whale. I hope doc doesn't see this thread. I still feel badly for comparing him to a flea.

I don't think that its because we literally have fleas although that may often be the case. Its the dirty, disheveled players with little money and even less inclination to take a bath that the dicecrews termed fleas. Though once I'm told that a maintenance man sprayed insecticide near a craps table because he heard the employees of a marooned riverboat complaining about the fleas there the term is well known in the industry. No money, no inclination to bathe, little inclination to tip the crew.

Did the workers on Hoover Dam actually bring some desert flea with them? I doubt it. Its more a term symbolic of poverty and filth.

Quote: Wizard

Maybe the opposite in size of a whale. I hope doc doesn't see this thread. I still feel badly for comparing him to a flea.

My goal is to reach Jumbo Shrimp!

Quote: FleaStiff

I don't think that its because we literally have fleas although that may often be the case. Its the dirty, disheveled players with little money and even less inclination to take a bath that the dicecrews termed fleas. Though once I'm told that a maintenance man sprayed insecticide near a craps table because he heard the employees of a marooned riverboat complaining about the fleas there the term is well known in the industry. No money, no inclination to bathe, little inclination to tip the crew.

Did the workers on Hoover Dam actually bring some desert flea with them? I doubt it. Its more a term symbolic of poverty and filth.

I disagree with that interpretation. I think it's just a mildly pejorative term referring to the relative size, and therefore importance, of a player's bets. Anyone who's dealt a casino game for more than six minutes knows that there is virtually NO correlation between a player's appearance and his bankroll/action; some black-chip bettors dress like street people (often, due to a desire for camouflage), while some dollar bettors dress like they were going out for a night at the opera. Therefore, the term wouldn't have come into vogue as meaning "Disgusting, filthy, low-rolling swine" to anyone in the gaming industry/profession.

Quote: mkl654321

the term wouldn't have come into vogue as meaning "Disgusting, filthy, low-rolling swine" to anyone in the gaming industry/profession.

It would have if it originated in the 30's and 40's, which it did.

I'm much too young and ignorant of gaming's past to know the origin of the word, but our personnel dub those who take TITO vouchers as 'fleas'. They 'jump' from machine to machine taking tickets, they take without giving similar to a parasite on a host, and generally make others skin crawl because of their behavior. It's just one of those words thats fits and people get. Instead of saying 'the guy who only walks around not playing, he's just taking any ticket he finds' you just say 'he's the flea' and people know what you're talking about.

Quote: Wizard

... I hope doc doesn't see this thread. I still feel badly for comparing him to a flea.

Ah, you just know I am much too frequent a visitor to miss out on this thread. But at least my having posted that little exchange served a function: You smiled and made a quip that some might consider an insult; I smiled and posted a quip that made you feel just a little bit bad about it. Neither of us really caused harm. We got to exchange our friendly little pokes, and now we can try to guess whether either of us came out "ahead", if that is even meaningful.

Quote: mkl654321

I disagree with that interpretation. I think it's just a mildly pejorative term referring to the relative size, and therefore importance, of a player's bets. Anyone who's dealt a casino game for more than six minutes knows that there is virtually NO correlation between a player's appearance and his bankroll/action; some black-chip bettors dress like street people (often, due to a desire for camouflage), while some dollar bettors dress like they were going out for a night at the opera. Therefore, the term wouldn't have come into vogue as meaning "Disgusting, filthy, low-rolling swine" to anyone in the gaming industry/profession.

You know, it's probably some of both. Expressions tend to catch on when there's some amount of double entendre.