I've never been able to confirm gambling at the Colony Club. Of course you would bet it did, but it doesn't show.

Frank Chalfant put it in his book because he had a chip he said was from there. The chip was unfortunately (for him) from Illinois, and although he was shown the proof, he didn't like it. Frank was a good friend of mine, but he was stubborn, especially when it came to Galveston chips. Since that is all he collected, he didn't like it when someone claimed a chip should be removed from Galveston. His explanation was always the same, he had it on "good authority" that the chip was also used in Galveston. Unfortunately, his good authority was someone who was constantly misidentifying chips for a sale. Those old-timers like me who remember the Galveston bunch 20 years ago and likely know who I'm talking about. I've spent decades undoing the harm that C.S. did.

All that said, did the Colony Club have gambling? Likely. Even if only doing some booking-making or punchboards behind the bar or a couple slot machines in the corner, most "clubs" had something. Whether there was a roulette wheel turning or dice rolling, well, I'm not sure I would go that far.