trivia

Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

Person
Howard Hughes: between 1966 and 1968 he bought the Desert Inn, Sands, Castaway, New Frontier and Silver Slipper casinos on The Strip in Las Vegas. He then bought Harold’s Club in Reno for $10.5 million. By mid-1970 it was estimated that Hughes’ casinos accounted for 17% of Nevada’s gambling revenue. The governor of Nevada, Paul Laxalt, once said: “His coming here did things for our state image that a multi-million dollar public relations campaign couldn’t have achieved. He has given Nevada gaming instant respectability”. Read more

History
Gambling became legalized in Las Vegas in 1931. The first people to be issued a gambling license were Mayme V. Stocker and J.H. Morgan, on March 20, 1931, in the amount of $1,410 for a three month license for Stocker's Nothern Club located near the Hotel Nevada on Fremont street. The Northern Club later became the Exchange Club, then the Boulder Club, then the Rainbow Club. Wilbur Clark of Desert Inn fame leased the property from Stocker in 1954, renaming it the Monte Carlo Club. By the mid-1960s, the property was decidedly unsafe. It leaned with the wind. When it was demolished in 1966, it was found that the adobe in the back wall was plastered over a big coil bedspring for support. The property now holds the Coin Castle. Some time after the license was issued, Morgan who was in poor health committed suicide. Stocker died in 1972 at age 97.

Film
The Grifters (1990): directed by Stephen Frears and starring Anjelica Huston, John Cusack and Annette Bening. Tagline: Seduction. Betrayal. Murder. Who's Conning Who? Plot Outline: A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend--both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play. Source: IMDb

Numbers
$1.2bn (£750m): the world record for an overall jackpot was set in December 1999 by Spain's El Gordo, meaning the Fat One. But the Spanish lottery is also the world's easiest - it spreads the prize pool among thousands of winners, with a one in six chance of winning something. Source: BBC

Thing
one-armed bandit : a type of slot machine - UK ALSO fruit machine, AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH ALSO poker machine (a machine that you try to win money from by putting coins into it and operating it) - with a large metal pole on the side that you pull to make it work. Cambridge Dictionaries Online

Song
Hot Shot Gambler by Sweet
See lyrics

Recipe
Black Jack BBQ Sauce
See recipe
Casino Royale Casserole
See recipe

Wordplay
11 was a race horse
22 was 12
1111 horse race
22112

11 was a race horse
22 was one too
11won one horse race
22 won one too

Literature
At least five novels by Charles Dickens contained references to gambling. In Nicholas Nickleby (1838–9) the gamblers are titled reprobates, with Dickens drawing upon an established image of the gambler in the first half of the century. In The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1), one character lower down the social scale is plagued by a mania for gambling. In Hard Times (1854) Dickens associates gambling with outright villainy, as a gambler commits a robbery and ensures that the blame falls elsewhere. In Little Dorrit (1855–7) one of the main characters, Rigaud, is defined from the outset in relation to gambling and, in common with Thomas Gradgrind junior in Hard Times, he is villainous. Little Dorrit also features widespread, rampant and ill-judged speculation which has a ruinous effect, a theme previously explored by Dickens in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–4). Read more

Proverbs
He who can persuade someone not to gamble has earned money for him. (Chinese Proverb) Reform a gambler. Cure leprosy. (Chinese Proverb)
Gambling is the son of avarice and the father of despair. (French Proverb)
There are two great pleasures in gambling: that of winning and that of losing. (French Proverb)
There is no lock on the purse of a gambler. (French Proverb)
Rich gamblers and old trumpeters are rare. (German Proverb)
Young gamblers, old beggars. (German Proverb)
Gamblers do not contribute to the public welfare. (Hebrew Proverb)
A spoiled son becomes a gambler, while a spoiled daughter becomes a harlot. (Indian Proverb)
One hundred alcoholics are better than one gambler. (Tunisian Proverb)
Nine gamblers could not feed a single rooster. (Yugoslavian Proverb)
Source: Creative Proverbs