It didn’t take long for the Windy City to develop a reputation as a center for illegal gambling. By the 1850s, there were a host of upscale but dishonest skinning houses near Lake and State streets, and lower-amenity gambling in a rough part of town known as the Sands (this area has no known connection to the later Las Vegas casino of the same name).
You can learn plenty more about Chicago’s long gambling historyin Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.
Go here to read an excerpt from the book, or learn where to buy your copy.
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