Tag: Features

In a place where vice is normally prohibited, felons serving time at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City once operated a casino known as the “Bullpen,” which offered every game of chance, including blackjack, craps, poker, gin rummy and sports betting.The casino, which operated from 1932 to 1967 in a converted stone building, had every gaming license aspirant through rigorous investigation by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Any hint of criminal doings earned a rejection. Dennis Neilander, chairman of the Gaming Control Board, shed some light on the reasons behind this phenomenon. “It was a different time. They thought it would keep (the inmates) out of trouble,” he said. Add to this the fact that Nevada was the first state to legalize gaming, in 1931, and accepted gambling for all the years before that. And according to Neilander, before 1959, gaming control largely fell on county sheriffs. With gaming in Nevada becoming legalized in 1931, astoundingly the Nevada State Prison saw no problems in allowing inmates to take part in gambling that was structured and approved by the prison. As a matter of fact, it was the wardens themselves who arranged space for games of chance and creation of inmate game “owners.” This practice definitely astonished today’s corrections worker to think of legitimizing inmate gambling. Although there might have been very little cheating among the inmate gamblers, this helped increase financial obligations between inmates, which could result in shake downs or even worse for those owing money.ADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit WebsiteADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit WebsiteADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit WebsiteADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit WebsiteCarl Osborne, a Las Vegas bus driver who has collected an assortment of Nevada State Prison tokens, known as “brass” by the prisoners, agreed that gambling behind bars did keep the inmates out of trouble and cut down on discord.“I think