For those of you interested in illegal casinos, you have probably heard of Henderson, KY. From the 1930s through the 1950s illegal gambling flourished in clubs scattered mostly along "The Strip", Highway 41, in Henderson earning the city the reputation of Little Chicago. Perhaps the most famous of those clubs was the Trocadero, which offered fine-dining, performances by national touring acts of the time, and of course a back room full of slot machines, roulette wheels, and craps tables. Other clubs located in Henderson included The Dells, the Kentucky Tavern, the 101 Club, the Commando Club, Pearsons, the Kasey Klub, the Edgewood, the Happy Hour, the Midway, and the Cloverdale. These clubs served soldiers from the nearby Camp Breckenridge and residents of Evansville, IN, located just across the river.

The Tri-State area has always had a thirst for all forms of gambling. Henderson is home to Ellis Park, a thoroughbred race track. Bally's Evansville opened its doors in 1995 as Casino Aztar and was the first (legal) casino in Indiana. There are also reports that the game of Blackjack (a variant of the French game "vingt-et-un") as it is known today was first played in clubs in Evansville in 1910.

During the pandemic, Bally's Evansville closed their poker room leaving the Tri-State poker community with no legal place to play their game and so far has shown no interest in re-opening their room. The poker players of the area were not to be left without a game for too long.

Recently, Poker returned to the Henderson strip. Tri-State Social Club opened in September of 2022 and operates as a social club. Membership dues are required to enter the club and seat rentals at the poker tables are available. The room has 6 poker tables and spreads 1/3 and 2/5 no-limit, a 1/2/5 PLO game that plays pretty deep, and a regular 10/20 Omaha Hi-Lo game. Tournaments are also held most days.

Currently, there are three of these social club style businesses offering poker games operating in the state of Kentucky, Moneymaker's Social Club (owned and operated by Chris Moneymaker) in Paducah, KY; Tri-State Social Club in Henderson, KY; and The Royal Social Club in London, KY. Their business model of operating as a social club, only offering seat rentals at poker tables and not directly profiting from the poker games themselves, is modeled after the numerous card clubs that have popped up in Texas.

Kentucky has fairly strict anti-gambling laws in place (in this writer's opinion it is to protect the horse racing industry). I believe these clubs are operating to the letter of the law, but as two of the three clubs have only been in operation for a few months, it remains to be seen what the overall community response will be. Certainly poker players are happy.

Without a doubt, there's something in the Tri-State Water that gives those that live there an itch to gamble.