Gamblers' Luck

In the 14 years since their endeavors were legalized in Nevada, gamblers have panned for gold as carefully as the bearded prospectors who went before them.

Slot machines now clank in remote service stations. There are few towns so small that a housewife cannot take a pass at the dice for a dime. In Las Vegas and Reno, divorcees, cowhands, tourists and plain citizens crowd plush palaces where roulette wheels whir and stacked silver dollars gleam on green tables. Gamblers are Nevada's new bonanza kings. Wilbur ("Little Caesar") Clark, 37-year-old operator of Las Vegas' gaudy new Monte Carlo Casino, had only $2,200 in 1941. Now he owns a gambling palace, a hotel, four cocktail bars and two cardrooms; is part owner of two more gambling halls, a California tuna clipper and a string of horses.

Unlike Nevada's mines, which have paid a "bullion tax" on net proceeds since 1864, gambling has never been taxed (except for a license). But this spring legislators wrote a bill calling for a 10% income tax on gambling's gross profits. The proposal stirred up as much argument as a counterfeit bill at a faro table.

Even when the tax was reduced to 1%, the uproar went on. Many a businessman joined, fearing the law might prove a wedge for special taxes on other businesses. But the legislature passed the bill. Nevada's Governor E. P. Carville hemmed, hawed, called for public hearing, finally decided not to touch the red hot document. Last week, after the lapse of the period allowed for veto, it became law without his signature.

As the furore died, gambling ran on as usual. At Reno's big Harold's Club, 57-year-old Manager Raymond Smith went on elbowing hospitably through crowds, calling "Why, hello there, friends!" and occasionally doubling bets.

But Nevada's citizens, whatever their convictions, will not soon lose interest in the new law. After years of fascinated guessing, they will now learn how much they and Nevada's money-jangling visitors contribute to Nevada's gambling.

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