The first settlement in New York Harbor was established by Dutch fur traders
in 1613 and was called New Amsterdam. These early traders were adventurers,
gamblers, willing to take big risks for big profits. One particularly shrewd
player, Peter Minuit, convinced the resident Native Americans to sell him
Manhattan Island and Staten Island for about $24 worth of goods. The
Indians, to whom the idea of land ownership was ridiculous, thought they got
the better deal. Conquered by the British in 1664, the settlements’ name
was changed to New York in honor of the Duke of York. Unlike Puritan New
England, gambling in New York was a popular, socially accepted activity
under the British. Colonial America was a new, untamed land with opportunity
and danger at every turn. Only the most rugged, independent risktakers were
attracted to it. Eventually, they wanted to run their own game. The leaders
of the American Revolution bet their lives and all they owned in a no-limit
confrontation with the world’s strongest player, Great Britain. New York
City became the first capital of the newly formed United States. In 1789,
the first President, George Washington, was inaugurated at Federal Hall on
Wall Street. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 doubled the size of the country.
As the frontier moved westward into the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys,
New York City developed into a major port and financial center. Gambling
thrived in the taverns that crowded early mercantile New York. The working
class section of the city known as “The Bowery” was a rough gambling
district.
In addition to wagering on card and dice games, “blood sports” were popular.
Patsy Hearn’s grogshop had a “Men’s Sporting Parlor” famous for its rat
fights.

It was estimated in 1850 that there were “6,000 places in the metropolis, or
approximately one to every eighty-five inhabitants, where gambling in one
form or another was permitted.” The New York Herald described the city in
1850 as “the great headquarters of the gamblers in this country”. Gamblers
were estimated to be winning $5 million annually from NYC citizens.

For twenty years before and after the Civil War, John Morrissey was the most
famous gambler and casino operator the country had ever seen. And, he was
one of the most colorful characters of his era. A tough Irish brawler,
Morrissey shocked the world when won the U.S. Championship in New York in
1852, outlasting skilled professional boxer Yankee Sullivan in a 37- round
melee. The Champ retired undefeated in 1858. Using his fame and fortune,
Morrissey next turned to the gambling business.

Eventually, he owned and operated five gaming houses in New York City. The
wealthiest and most powerful men in the country were among his regular
patrons.

Historian Herbert Asbury tells us that Morrissey “was an expert Poker
player, and in private sessions with his friends was noted for scrupulous
fairness” but his public casinos “were operated as skinning houses”.

With the money he made from his NYC gambling houses, Morrissey developed
Saratoga Springs as the foremost gambling resort in the country. It included
a luxurious hotel, casino, spa, opera house, theater and race track. Richard
A. Canfield, America’s first great casino king, opened the Madison Square
Club in NYC in 1888. While almost every gambling hall cheated players,
Canfield understood that housebanked games assured the casino could be run
profitably as well as honestly.

The décor of the Club was dignified and comfortable, a stark contrast to the
loud, gaudy “hells” that dominated NYC. It was distinguished, too, for being
an honest operation. The Saratoga resort and track, neglected for some years
after Morrissey owned it, was bought by Canfield. He renovated it and again
made it the greatest gaming resort in America. It was a favorite of the rich
and powerful. Presidents Cleveland and Taft were frequent guests.
Industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt once had an epileptic seizure while
playing poker. When he recovered, the game resumed.

Canfield eventually sold Saratoga and returned to New York City where he
opened a fabulous casino called “The House of the Bronze Doors” just blocks
from Time Square. A few years later he was wiped out in another game, the
Stock Market, and died in 1914.

The last man to really harness gambling in the Big Apple was Arnold
Rothstein. Born in Manhattan in 1882, he grew-up in the city.

Rothstein brought together the diverse elements of the underworld and
fashioned them into a highly profitable industry whose goods and services
were illegal. He introduced organized crime.

In 1910, Rothstein opened his first gambling house on West 46th Street.
Within a few years he had politicians and the NYPD in his pocket. Through
gambling, Rothstein eventually financed much of the criminal activity in the
Eastern U.S. Prohibition in 1920 created an upheaval in Rothstein’s
organized crime empire. Suddenly it was a lawless free-for-all. Arnold
shunned the booze business. An organization man, he concluded there was no
controlling it. An avid gambler himself, Rothstein dropped $320,000 in a
poker game one evening. Convinced the game was fixed; he refused to pay and
walked out. A few weeks later he was gunned down in a room at the Park
Central Hotel.

With the end of Prohibition, the Great Depression, and World War II gambling
in New York City would never again reach the level of acceptance and
significance it had during the city’s earlier history.