A History of Gambling in the Midwest
Early gambling statutes in the Northwest Territory closely paralleled those in the east. The preamble of the 1790 Northwest Territory Act, the first anti-gambling statute affecting the Territory which reflected a philosophy characteristic of much of Puritan-derived legislation, articulated the danger seen in continued gambling activity.
The 1970 act declared gaming contracts to be void, and any person who established or permitted the establishment of 'any' species of gaming' where money might be wagered could draw a $200 fine.
In the absence or organized law enforcement on the frontier, the statute encouraged the prosecution of violations by private individuals through a provision that reserved one-half of all the resultant fines for the private prosecutor.
The act also prohibited tavern keepers from keeping billiard or other tables. Those who violated the ordinance risked losing their licenses.
Lotteries never enjoyed the popularity in the early Midwest that they enjoyed in the East and South, perhaps because they were not a financial necessity as they were in the early days of development in these latter areas; where they were used to raise revenue.
By the time Midwestern towns needed capital for major improvements, the newly chartered banks of New York and other Eastern cities could provide it. Lotteries had, therefore, lost their most viable rationale by the end of the eighteenth century; only their gambling aspects remained.
Before 1800, the only route west from Ohio was the Ohio River. After 1800, overland roads were built, but they were at best 'rock-strewn, precipitous roadways over the mountains' or 'rutted of muddy courses through the lowlands'.
Thus, most settlers continued to rely on the river for at least the first 20 years of the nineteenth century.
River travel increased remarkably with the development of the steamboat. The first steamboat on the great central rivers, The New Orleans, was launched by Nicholas J. Roosevelt in 1911 at Pittsburg.
By 1815, another steamboat, the Enterprise, made the long upriver journey on the Mississippi between New Orleans and Louisville in only 25 days. Only ten years later, there were 75 steamboats making regular journeys on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
Professional gamblers regularly worked the steamboats of the Mississippi and Ohio; the boats were an ideal setting for the victimization of unsuspecting travelers. On the land, town tavern of more rural days was replaced by the 'wolf trap', a primitive form of casino.
Cincinnati, am early population center and the chief port of the Ohio River, was particularly infested with these river-borne hustlers.
The citizens of Ohio, however, were not pleased with the influx of gamblers. Anti-gambling fervor fervor increased throughout the 1820s and 1830s. In the wake of anti-gambling riots and lynchings, Ohio river towns expelled gambling hustlers.
In Cincinnati, an angry mob threatened to burn down all the gambling houses and hang their occupants. Only the intervention of Mayor Sam Davis saved the lives of the gamblers and, perhaps by design, the gambling industry itself.