1857
-
- Public gaming is made illegal in France. [80.291]
- Napoléon Langlois and Albert Aubert sell their Monaco casino concession to Pierre Auguste Daval. [187.299]
1858
-
- Monte Carlo opens in Monaco, by gambling operators forced from Hamburg. [39]
1860
- April
- Legislative Council of Denver, Colorado, USA, legalizes Three-Card Monte. The law is soon repealed. [819.56]
- (month unknown)
- In California, all banking games (where player bets against the house) are banned. [39] [187.262]
- September 12
- Spaniard Thomas Garcia leaves the Kursaal casino after winning nearly 800,000 francs of the casino's reserve capital. [187.211]
1861
- October
- Nevada territory legislature makes operating games of chance a felony, and wagering a misdemeaner. [187.351] [818.2]
1863
- February 18
- The Spélugues casino is completed in Monaco. [811.175]
- March 31
- Francois Blanc obtains a gambling concession of Monaco. The company is to be called The Society for Sea Bathing and the Circle of Foreigners of Monaco. [187.300] [811.175]
- September 27
- The united kingdom of Italy is proclaimed. The Lotto is made a legal source of national income. [80.235] [187.87]
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1865
- February 1
- Wilhelmsbad hotel/casino, outside Hanau in Hesse-Cassel, closes. [811.131]
- (month unknown)
- Frenchman Pierre Oller creates a mathematical system for pooling bets and paying off winners, in proportion to the amount of money in the pool. [187.236]
- Nevada passes a law against running a game of chance. [187.351]
1866
-
- Louisiana passes a law requiring all lottery brokers to register with the state and pay 5 percent tax of profits. [187.342]
1868
- February
- Prussian Chamber passes law ordering all gambling stopped effective 11:00 PM, December 31, 1872. [187.213]
- August 11
- The Louisiana Lottery Company (a criminal syndicate from New York) is authorized by the state and granted an exclusive 25-year charter. [39] [187.342] [806.60] [819.83] [1114.52]
1869
-
- Gambling is legalized in Nevada, with minimum age 17. The bill to allow gambling was vetoed by Governor Henry Blasdel, but the legislature overrode his veto. A quarterly license fee is imposed on Storey County, set at US$250 in other counties. [39] [187.352]
- Louisiana allows an unlimited number of gambling houses to operate in New Orleans, for US$5,000 per year fee. [187.343]
1871
- October 8
- Great Chicago Fire kills 200, destroys over 4 square miles (10 square km) of Chicago buildings, and original Emancipation Proclamation document. Three other major fires take place on the shores of Lake Michigan. (In 1944, the estate of Louis Cohn releases a letter claiming he knocked over a lantern in a barn while playing craps with friends.) [1] [80.147] [187.283] [565.104]
1872
-
- French chemist Pierre Oller devises pari-mutuel system of pooling betting stakes for equitable distribution among winners. [80.191] (1865 [806.187])
- October
- Gambling centers in Ems and Wiesbaden, Germany, close by order of the Prussian government. [80.296] [187.213]
- December 31
- The casinos of Germany operate for the last time, shutting down on order of the Prussian government. [80.295] [187.199,213] [811.164]
- The casino at Spa in Belgium closes. [811.168]
1873
-
- The Spélugues casino in Monaco is renamed Monte Carlo. [811.176]
- Joseph Jaggers of England wins 80,000 pounds at roulette at the Monte Carlo casino after a few weeks play, by exploiting subtle imperfections in the wheels that bias certain numbers. [187.313]
1875
-
- Nevada raises the legal gambling age to 21, sets the quarterly licensing fee to US$400 in all counties, outlaws three-card monte, and makes cheating a felony. [187.352]
- In Andy McDonald's tavern in Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA, four rich gamblers play a poker game for 70 hours, with none out more than $25 by the end. [819.25]
1876
- August 2
- In Deadwood, South Dakota, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, playing poker in Carl Mann's saloon, is shot dead (from behind) by Jack "Crooked Nose" McCall, for no apparent reason. Hickok reportedly held a pair of Aces and a pair of eights, which becomes known as the Dead Man's Hand. [1] [187.264] [565.79] [819.341]
1877
-
- The first pari-mutuel betting in American horse-racing takes place at Morris and Jerome Park in New York. [86.164]
- Sports gambling scandal in USA: four Louisville Grays baseball players are found to have taken money from New York gambling ring to deliberately lose games. [187.338]
- The casino of Saxon-les-Bains closes. [811.168]
1878
-
- Pari-mutuel betting on horse-racing is introduced to Churchill Downs in Kentucky, USA. [86.164]
1879
-
- In New Zealand, Ekberg invents the first mechanical totalizer, a hand-operated calculating machine for use in pari-mutuel betting system for horse racing. [187.236] (1880 [80.191])
- Nevada law makes it a misdemeaner to permit cheating in licensed gambling halls, and allows gambling on first floors. [818.3]
- Louisiana State legislature cancels the charter of the Louisiana Lottery. [819.86]
- August 25
- Kentucky State Lottery commissioners certify a drawing of 13 numbers. Also, commissioners of the Frankfort (Kentucky) Lottery certify a drawing of the same 13 numbers, allegedly drawn in the same order. [819.101]
1880
- April 24
- A bomb explodes in the Monte Carlo casino; many are wounded by glass, but no serious theft is carried out. [187.304] [811.185]
- (month unknown)
- The new Louisiana State Constitution provides for a lottery, to expire 1895. [819.86]
- July 7
- The French national lottery completes funding for the Statue of Liberty. [418.44]
1881
-
- In New South Wales, George Adams begins offering a public sweepstakes. [187.233]
- In New Zealand, the Gaming and Lotteries Act passes, banning gaming houses, off-track totalizer betting, and most lotteries. [187.235,237]
- Missouri state bans gambling. [187.263]
1884
-
- California legislature prohibits stud poker under penalty of fine and imprisonment. [819.32]
1885
-
- Gambling is outlawed in California. [187.263]
1887
- May 26
- Racetrack betting becomes legal in New York state, USA. [1]
1889
-
- Great Britain outlaws gambling in areas of Africa under its control, except horse racing book making. [187.464]
1890
- July 29
- US President Benjamin Harrison sends a directive to Congress demanding legislation to make use of the Post Office for lottery purposes illegal. [1114.53]
- September 18
- US President Benjamin Harrison signs a bill into law making use of the Post Office for lottery purposes illegal. [187.344] [807.11] [819.86] [1114.53]
1891
-
- A company in Brooklyn, New York, sells the first poker-playing slot machines. [187.330]
- July
- In Monte Carlo, Charles Deville Wells of England wins about 1 million francs at roulette. [565.89]
1892
-
- Hong Kong governor Sir William Robinson orders a halt to betting on horse races. [187.218]
- New South Wales criminalizes sweepstakes gambling. [187.233]
- July 9
- Canada's Criminal Code makes all gambling illegal, except small value (under $50) lottery raffles for charity organizations, carnival games of chance at agricultural fairs, and betting between individuals at legal racetracks. [187.240,461] [387.12]
1895
-
- US law bans interstate transportation of lottery materials. [187.344] [807.11] [819.86]
- In the USA, the Louisiana Lottery Company is abolished. Over past 30 years, the private lottery took in US$300 million, paying out little. [39] [40.13] [187.344]
1896
-
- Tasmania passes the Suppression of Public Betting and Gaming Act, legalizing a government-sponsored lottery monopoly, Tattersalls, run by George Adams. [187.233]
1897
-
- The Swedish government starts a state lottery. [80.241]
- In San Francisco, California, Charles Fey builds a 5-reel coin-operated poker machine. [818.111]
1898
-
- In San Francisco, California, Charles Fey builds a coin-operated slot machine with three reels called Card Bell, the first poker machine paying out in coins. [187.331] [818.111]
1899
-
- In San Francisco, California, American mechanic Charles A. Fey, invents the first general (non-poker) coin-operated slot machine, called Liberty Bell, which is first used in a San Francisco gambling saloon. The machine employs three spinning reels, and costs 5-cents to operate. A window displays the selected symbol of each reel, and there are ten symbols on each reel. [187.331] [818.110] (1887 [87.203]) (1895 [39] [80.70] [806.162])
1900
- July 18
- Canada's Criminal Code is amended to allow small lottery raffles up to $50 in prizes at religious and charity bazaars. [387.17]
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