Hi Jim, The Lake Club in Springfield was indeed a gambling club. All gambling in and around Springfield was under the control of 'Black' Tony Sgro. Anyone who operated in Sangamon County kicked up to him. The real action was in the river towns up by Havana. Peoria was another hot bed and was controled by the Sheltons, nobody including the Chicago mob messed with the Sheltons because they were crazy. Southern Illinois was controled by other interests and hot spots included E. St. Louis, Cape Girardeau(east), Benld, and Litchfield. For every place that we have found chips from there are probably three more that operated and never had chips. They did it the old fashioned way(Cash). Many games in those days were muscle games as opposed to the bank games we are familier with. Somewhere I have a pair of dice from the Lake Club, but the last time I saw them they were deteriorating badly. Hope this info helps. Kruse