The Las Vegas Gambling Biz: Quite A Start
The optimism and easy-going style of the last frontier community seemed like welcome relief from the routine and anxiety of wartime society.
Southern Californians, perhaps trying to escape coastal blackouts, continued to travel to Las Vegas, frequently by train, and left their unmistakable imprint on the impressionable resort town.
Largely as a result of military relocations, the marriage business reaped a harvest of desperate servicemen, especially in 1941 and 1942, who took advantage of the quick and easy weddings that Las Vegas provided.
Just in time as dissatisfied spouses flocked to the area in record numbers to seek divorces during the immediate postwar years.
Growth in the fledgling city now depended on expansion in the betting industry.
A series of new casinos opened so that the area had a total of thirty-four clubs in 1945. Business ran day and night until late 1942 when proprietors, at the request of military officials, jointly decided to close down between 3 and 10 AM as a contribution to the war effort,
Many of the new investments and wagers in Las Vegas appeared to come from black market sources that could find no better place to spend or 'launder' ill-gotten funds.
Such pursuits reinforced the bonds between Las Vegas gambling and experienced casino operators. But 'legitimate' prospects abounded, too.
The sudden prosperity of Wilbur Clark demonstrated the available opportunities. From 1941 to 1945, Clark parlayed his initial stake of $2,200 into ownership of a casino and small hotel, four bars, and two card rooms, and part ownership of two other gambling halls and a 'string of horses'.
Even women joined the boom. The shortage of male operatives allowed female dealers to take their place alongside Rosie the Riveter in the wartime economy.
Indeed, the entire complexion of the town changed in the midst of rapid growth. Gambling had become the predominant industry in Las Vegas by 1945, and its remarkable success gave great encouragement to local residents.
Less concerned with posturing as a tourist sidestop, Las Vegas gained confidence and a better sense of its future.
Optimism surged and plans for the postwar era proliferated. Las Vegas appeared to be realizing its boosters' dreams.
Yet, although the promotion of the betting industry ultimately required more variety and flexibility than the narrow western theme could provide, in that flurry of growth during World War II, developers perceived virtually no other style to which they could turn for guidance.
Consequently, even as the preeminence of the last frontier image diminished in relation to the significance of gambling, the old West enjoyed its most pronounced revival in Las Vegas from 1940 to 1945.
many new casinos and hotels--- like the Western Casino, the Pioneer and Frontier clubs, and the Last Frontier, El Cortez, and El Rancho Vegas hotels--- were named and styled with the wild West in mind, and observers repeatedly echoed boosters' claims that Las Vegas was 'still frontier town'.
In 1944, this western revival reached its zenith when civic leaders proposed that all new downtown architecture conform to frontier styles.