"You can't close gambling nowhere where the people want to gamble." -Senator Huey Long, Louisiana, 1935
The territory of Louisiana was originally claimed by the French in the 1690s. In order to secure and populate the valuable port site, the King of France awarded John Law and his company the opportunity to develop the new territory. Law raised money by convincing investors they would realize enormous profits from the gold and natural wealth of the colony. However, he couldn't find enough people willing to immigrate to the harsh, mosquito infested, diseaseridden region.
Desperate, Law had to rely heavily on paupers, prisoners and prostitutes for his initial citizenry. It was with these earliest residents that gambling first became part of the intimate character of the City of New Orleans.
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson, a gambler, jumped at the opportunity to buy the territory from Napoleon for $15 million dollars (about 3-cents an acre).
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States; thirteen states would eventually be carved from it.
Under the Americans, New Orleans embarked upon a golden age. Until the Civil War, it would reign as America's first great gambling city.
New Orleans developed rapidly as the natural outlet for all the agricultural and manufactured goods from the vast interior of the new nation. Wealthy merchants, plantation owners and slave traders attracted girls and gamblers.
The first elegant casino in America was opened in New Orleans in 1822. Faro and Twenty-One dominated the action. Within a year there were a halfdozen "temples of chance" in addition to hundreds of gambling dens and "hellholes".
By 1830, New Orleans was the third largest city in the U.S. Draw and Stud Poker developed around New Orleans about 1825. Initially Poker was played with 20 cards. There were only two unbeatable hands - four aces and four kings with an ace. Within a few years, Poker's popularity and the desire of riverboat gamblers to get more players in the game before the next stop, the 52-card deck became common.
Poker often attracted wealthier, more accomplished gentlemen. It has been written that Henry Clay, five-time Presidential candidate and a giant in 19th Century American history and politics, made the modifications to Brag that then became known as Draw Poker.
There was no limit in New Orleans' gambling houses. Consequently, losses of $25,000 in a Poker game were not uncommon. One Louisiana historian reported, "captains lost vessels... shipowners their cargoes, planters the money...from the sale of the years' crops".
The Mississippi River and all its tributaries became principal avenues of transportation. Initially flatboats and later steamboats brought goods to New Orleans. After months on the rivers, boat crews arrived anxious to indulge in all the pleasures. The docks, commonly called "The Swamp", consisted of a dozen blocks crowded with saloons, gambling dens, dance halls, and bordellos. For six cents, "a boatman could get a drink, a woman and a bed for the night".
By 1840, the Great Riverboat Era was under full steam. Riverboats and gamblers quickly spread from New Orleans, up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and throughout the heartland. It is estimated there were 250 riverboats and some 2,000 professional gamblers working American rivers and settlements. With the worldwide demand for cotton, Southern plantations thrived. As a key slave trade center and port for King Cotton, New Orleans had grown to become the wealthiest city in America by the start of the Civil War.
After the Civil War, "carpetbaggers", wealthy northerners who came to the South to exploit opportunities and reap the spoils of war, filled the gambling houses of New Orleans. A gambling house was typically a three-story building with Faro on the first floor, Roulette on the second floor, and Keno on the third floor. Poker and Twenty-One were often played in small rooms located off the main floors. Post-Civil War riverboat racing became a popular sport as captains competed to set new speed records and attract commercial business. The "race of the century" occurred between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee on June 30, 1870, from New Orleans to St. Louis.
There was enthusiastic betting all along the river. Bettors were equally divided; it was an evenmoney race. Even the Europeans got excited and sent reporters to cover the event; there was heavy betting on the outcome in London and Berlin.
The Natchez had long been the queen of the river. Its captain, Thomas Leathers, was a crafty old sailor who would throw slabs of bacon into the boat's furnace in order to get a hotter fire.
John Cannon, captain of he Robert E. Lee, had a few tricks planned as well. He stripped his boat of every nonessential, including furniture and cargo, to make it lighter and faster. On the final leg of the race, instead of stopping to refuel, he had another boat pull up beside his, tied them together, and refueled without stopping!
Cannon piloted the Robert E. Lee to victory, arriving in St. Louis six hours and thirty-three minutes before the Natchez. The California Gold Rush, Civil War, and the decline in riverboat traffic due to competition from the railroads eventually caused many of the gamblers and much of the action to move West.
But clearly, from its earliest beginnings to the present, gambling has always been an important part of the character and culture of The Big Easy.
