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The Chip Board Archive 08

Bill Harrah: The Early Days

I found this great match cover on eBay a couple of weeks ago. Jill apparently didn't, and I got it for $1.75 [g].

This cover is from the earliest days of Bill Harrah's involvement in games of chance. During the depression, he worked for his father running 'bingo-like' games at the pavillion on the beach in Venice, CA. I initially thought the names on the cover: The Plaza, The Vogue, and The Circle. were names of clubs that Harrah operated in Venice. However, I have read the 1981 book by Leon Mandel on "William Fisk Harrah - The Life and Times of A Gambling Magnate" and now believe that these were the names of different games that were run at the beachfront pavillion. The book only mentions The Circle Game, though.

Below you see a scan of the cover, and an extract from the book covering this period in Harrahs career before he left for greener pastures in Reno in 1937.

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Bill Harrah: The Early Days
Re: Bill Harrah: The Early Days
I'm not "shopping" these days...
Re: Bill Harrah: The Early Days

Copyright 2022 David Spragg