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bturner bturner
wrote...
Posts: 572
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6 years ago
Detail some of the ways that the Civil War affected riverboat gambling.
 
  What will be an ideal response?



Which of the following is Not a direct job that results from the opening of a casino?
 
  a. Dealers
  b. Restaurant and hotel employees
  c. Surveillance workers
  d. A new grocery store opening for the workers
  e. All are direct jobs resulting from a casino



Which type of tax is Not one the text identifies as one that casino resorts stimulate for a community?
 
  a. Local income taxes
  b. Payroll taxes
  c. Sales taxes
  d. Hotel taxes
  e. They are all taxes that contribute to the community



Explain how sharpers preyed on riverboat travelers.
 
  What will be an ideal response?



The most obvious and most often cited positive contribution that a casino has to a community is
 
  a. Increased taxes and employment
 
  b. Bringing in new visitors to the community
 
  c. Providing an outlet for entertainment
  d. Making the area famous
  e. None of the above



Explain how poker was introduced in American riverboats.
 
  What will be an ideal response?



As a member of the business community, the casino fills many roles. According to the text, which one of the following is Not one of those roles?
 
  a. An employer
  b. A taxpayer
  c. An anchor tenant
  d. A provider of thrills and excitement
  e. They are all roles identified in the text



Detail aspects of everyday life on American riverboats in the Nineteenth Century.
 
  What will be an ideal response?



Discuss three specific recent publicity campaigns to promote responsible gambling.
 
  What will be an ideal response?



Explain the beginnings of gamblers traveling on riverboats.
 
  What will be an ideal response?
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wrote...
6 years ago
When war broke out between the North and South in April, 1861, virtually all passenger and commercial river travel abruptly diminished along with any gambling on the waterways. This was due to the fact that both sides yielded to the necessity of using the boats for the conflict. The inland riverboats became very valuable to the military of both sides mostly because they could be used to provide an effective means for transporting large numbers of troops and supplies over long distances.

This was demonstrated in the federal preparations for the battle of Shiloh, which was close to the Tennessee River. The Union used 174 riverboats to transport men and supplies during the campaign and battle. Other riverboats were converted to hospital ships that provided much needed medical facilities on a large scale to help with the many casualties of the war. One boat, the Red Rover, originally built as a commercial steamer at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1859 was called into Confederate service in 1861 . Federal river forces captured her in April, 1862 . She then became the first Federal hospital ship in June, 1862 and continued to serve in that role throughout the remainder of the Civil War. Her medical staff included the first female nurses to serve on board a U.S. Navy ship. They were the Sisters of the Holy Cross of Indiana, which is still operating a health care service today. There were many losses of boats on both sides, and a study conducted by Montana State University-Bozeman showed that of the more than 1,000 total steamboat losses on the Missouri River, at least three-dozen occurred on that river alone between 1861 and 1865.

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d

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e

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When sharpers moved to the riverboats, poker moved with them and became the dominant card game on the river. In the mid-1800's, it was estimated that there were between 1,500 and 2,000 gamblers cruising on riverboats. Travelers needed to take care when sitting down to a friendly card game in a Mississippi riverboat with a perfect stranger. On many occasions there might be as many as three gamblers working together as a team to fleece an unsuspecting cotton merchant or Texas cattle rancher out of their fortunes. Cards were marked, gamblers worked together to cheat, and sometimes an innocent looking by-stander watching a game in progress, was really a team member, who would signal his partner as to what other players were holding in their hands. Poker was a game that the uninformed traveler could not win. Nevertheless, some historians have gone so far as to say that the twenty-five years preceding the Civil War was the golden age of riverboat gambling.

By the mid 1800's, the system used by sharpers was a proven one that had been tried and tested during many excursions on the riverboats. Gambling team members would get on a boat at different stops and pretend not to know each other. After an enjoyable evening meal, one member might start up a conversation with a traveling planter at the bar. The gambler might innocently suggest cutting cards on who would buy the next round of drinks. Friendly talk

about crops and the cost of bringing them to market might then prevail. As the evening progressed, another team member would appear and join the conversation. All too soon someone would suggest that a game of cards be started to pass the time away.

Now everything would be in place to fleece the unsuspecting traveler. One gambler would call to the bartender to provide a new deck of cards and make a show of opening the new sealed pack. Unbeknownst to the unwary player, the cards were marked. They had been brought aboard earlier by one of the gamblers and given to the bartender with instructions to issue them at the appropriate time. Now it was only a matter of time to build up the stakes and then give the unknowing planter a powerful hand. However, one of the other team members would have received a stronger hand and proceed to take the sucker for all his money. The team would then get off at the next landing and catch a boat going the other way and start all over again.

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a

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The card game poker came into its own during the nineteenth century. It was a game that had roots in France and was brought over to New Orleans, and played in the saloons and gambling houses of that major port. History tells us that New Orleans in its heyday around 1840 was the major city in that part of America with about 40,000 inhabitants. However, it was also the gambling center with an estimated 500 establishments located throughout the city offering poker along with other games of chance and employing over 4,000 people. New Orleans has been considered by many to be America's first gambling capital long before Reno or Las Vegas.

The game of poker itself was originally known by the French name of Poque. The pronunciation is just like poker without the r, and the sound and spelling is thought to have become corrupted by the unique accent of Southerners. The game was quite different from what we know poker to be today. First, it was played with only 20 cards. The deck had 10's, jacks, queens, kings and aces only. There were no 2 through 9's in the deck and there was no drawing of additional cards. Second, the most that could play the game at any one time were four players. Lastly, they were dealt five cards each and then bet, raised and bluffed with only the cards they were originally given. Bluffing, and betting high stakes while holding poor cards to deceive opponents, was considered an integral part of the game.

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d

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The working area for professional gamblers, as well as the social environment for cabin passengers, was the Grand Saloon. The saloon itself was as large as the cabin deck, some as long as 200 to 300 feet. It would be from 17 to 20 feet in width, and as high as 12 to 14 feet. The saloon would be richly decorated and elaborately furnished on the better riverboats. One would have found Brussels or Persian carpets covering the deck, good quality furniture, game tables, and even a piano in some of the larger boats. The cabin dining room would be at one end of the saloon, while a superb well-stocked bar and smoking area for gentlemen travelers could be found at the other end.

Deck passenger travel was a completely different environment. Life on a riverboat as a deck passenger, by any standard, was crude and unpleasant. The savings on fare was the only good feature of deck passage. Cost for deck passage was usually half of what a cabin passenger paid. In the years of heavy immigrant flows, a boat may have 40 cabin passengers and 200 deck passengers. While cabin travelers had private rooms with beds and dressers, deck passengers would have to make do on the deck itself when it came to sleeping. They would also be required to bring their food with them, or purchase meals from the boat's cook at about 25 cents each. Gamblers would only travel as a cabin passenger, not only because conditions were better, but also that is where the cash-laden passengers traveled.

It is interesting to note that the term stateroom which is used to identify specific cabins aboard nautical vessels comes directly from early American riverboat travel. Henry Miller Shreve was a riverboat captain and owner.

Shreveport, Louisiana is named in his honor. When he became captain of the riverboat Washington in 1816, he named each cabin on his boat after a state, and other riverboat captains followed suit. Hence, the origin of the word stateroom which is still used today on passenger vessels to identify sleeping rooms.

Although travel by riverboat today is viewed as a romantic excursion or an exciting casino visit, its history tells us that travel in the early days was at times, extremely dangerous due to the frequency of accidents. In the first 40 years following the introduction of the steamboat by Robert Fulton, it was estimated that approximately 500 boats were lost to accidents with a death toll of nearly 4,000 people. The worst riverboat accident occurred at the very end of the Civil War in April, 1865, when the steamboat Sultana, carrying an excess capacity load of returning Union prisoners recently freed from Confederate prison camps, had its boiler blow up, causing over 1,700 deaths.

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One effort is the Gaming Lecture Series, which is a program to bring gaming experts to speak at major gaming destinations about these issues since 2001 . In 2003, the AGA board of directors created the AGA Code of Conduct for Responsible Gaming, a complete set of guidelines governing employee and customer education, underage gambling alcohol service, advertising and research. The purpose is to make responsible gaming an inherent part of daily operations. In 2005, the Keeping it Fun: A Guide to Responsible Gaming campaign was first created. The Keep It Fun campaign uses bright orange awareness wristbands that allow gaming industry employees, casino patrons and the public to show their support for the importance of responsible gaming awareness. More than 285,000 wristbands were sold within the year. The proceeds (115,000) from the wristbands are donated to the NCRG

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Gamblers in the early days of river travel might have had a high opinion of themselves and their associates as skilled professionals. However, the general public viewed gamblers with disdain, considering them as contributing nothing to society. This certainly was a reasonable judgment when the vast majority of them practiced their trade by cheating unsuspecting travelers. Many Americans looked upon sharps or sharpers, as gamblers were called in those days, as a breed apart from other travelers. The name itself sharper was an old term, common since the seventeenth-century. It was used to describe thieves who use trickery to part an owner from his money or possessions.

During the first days of riverboat travel, professional gamblers were rarely tolerated. If they were discovered, many captains put them ashore at the first opportunity. Later, by the 1830's, gamblers began to be recognized as frequent travelers, and a different opinion of them began to emerge. Gamblers on some boats were treated almost as crewmembers. They became so integrated with the movement of riverboat travel that some captains went so far as to claim it would be bad luck to sail without a gambler aboard. That point of view might be looked at with some skepticism since it had become the practice by this time for gamblers to give captains and some of the crew a piece of the action. Most gamblers looked upon this payoff to the captains and crew as simply a type of license fee to operate on their boats.

Later the gambler began to present a different picture of himself by changing his outer appearance. His new professional appearance found him in knee-length broadcloth coat, tailored black pants, ruffled white shirt, and a dark slouch hat. Included on his person would be expensive boots imported from France and a vest with an intricate design and ornate buttons. Outlandish gold, ruby or diamond rings on both hands were common. Most would display a large glittering stick pin in his ruffled tie, and a long gold chain connected to a European-made Jurgensen's watch costing as much as 1,000 would finish off his dashing appearance.

Gamblers by this time were an integral part of river travel. Some captains still did not overwhelmingly approve of those frequent travelers on their boats and would post signs at gateways that read All gamblers and fancy women must sign up with captain before boat leaves for New Orleans.. Other notices would typically read Thieves, con agents, and gamblers ride the steamboats. Many of these undesirable citizens hang around levees, wharves, hotels, and taverns in the river towns. Travelers are advised to buy bank drafts. Some prefer letters of credit from their own bank. If you need to carry a large sum of money, wear a

money belt. Avoid games of chance on the riverboats.. The word was out, but there were many travelers that did not take the advice.
bturner Author
wrote...
6 years ago
Face with Cold Sweat Can you answer the others that I've posted too?
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