Horse Betting History: How Vegas Put Ponies on the Map

by Leah Bailly | Aug 14 2008

Horse betting in America is an institution. A tough and headstrong game of strategy and skill, horse racing has been fraught with scandal since its inception. All Las Vegas historical figures, from mobsters to politicos to crooked cops, have been involved in some kind of horse betting scandal – a Kentucky Derby or Saratoga gone sour. Since the old days, a bookie manipulated odds and payouts to favor his point spread. Thrown races and "ringers" have swung huge for Vegas high rollers. Some even lost their lives after a bad result on the turf.

For a town without a racetrack and virtually no horses outside of Wayne Newton's inner city ranch, the ponies played a massive role in the birth of Sin City gambling culture. In fact, horse betting was the foundation for Vegas' multibillion dollar gaming industry, the original king-pin money maker for tough guys and bookies alike. Even now, the elusive "sweep" haunts Vegas pony players. Handicapping systems are passed down through generations, and to this day, bettors pore over the latest racing forms in cafes and sportsbooks all over town.

The Early Daze

In the beginning, there was the "Wire." With tourism blowing up in the wake of the Hoover Dam construction, Nevada legalized gambling in 1931. More importantly, as major gambling crackdowns occurred everywhere else in the country, Las Vegas was fast becoming the horse betting capital of the world. Sin City needed mobsters with experience in managing bookies. Horse betting wasn't just about lowdown track bums anymore. High rollers and family guys were starting to invest major dough on the ponies, and Las Vegas didn't want to drop a dime.

Bugsy's gang cut a deal with casinos on all race betting. (AP Images)

The mob decided to send the notorious Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel out West in 1941 to manage the Trans-America Race Wire, a race program run by Al Capone's gang and managed by the syndicate. Bugsy was known as a ruthless killer, mad manipulator and best of all, a businessman. By the 1930s, most Las Vegas casinos had a racebook, but most served to draw daytime gamblers into the poker games and slot machines. The mob did not take horse betting as lightly as casino owners. By the end of the 1940s, Bugsy's gang had eliminated the competitor's racing form and started strong-arming casinos into a cut on all race betting. After Bugsy's murder in 1947, the government changed its tune.

By the early 1950s, private race wires were made illegal in Las Vegas, and the big men insisted the results be broadcast on local radio. Sports gambling grew with the advent of the Strip's mega-casinos, with or without Bugsy to run the show. The timing was perfect. Los Angeles bookies and high rollers were kicked out of California for good in 1950, and the Vegas boom began in earnest. Blackjack, slots and horse betting became Vegas' largest industries. Bookies were on top of the world.

Home Turf

The only thing Las Vegas was lacking was its own track. Sure the betting was legal in Vegas, but the horses were elsewhere. In 1946, New Yorker Joseph Smoot teamed up with lawyer Hank Greenspun with the intent to build a luxurious racetrack in the heart of the burgeoning desert city. The two Easterners piled into Greenspun's cherry red convertible and drove all the way to Vegas with a dream. Greenspun fell in love with Vegas but dropped the track idea immediately, settling instead on starting the Las Vegas Sun, the first of his many media exploits in Nevada. Smoot was not so lucky.

While Vegas never had a track to call its own, horse betting continued to grow stronger. (AP Images)

Strung out on the vision of grandeur, Smoot involved nearly every Vegas heavy in the racetrack deal, securing land on the present Las Vegas Country Club site and involving such statesmen as Senator Pat McCarran. But the Las Vegas Park deal soon turned sideways. The plot was corrupted from its conception, from faulty equipment to missing funds, and Smoot soon faced the law for embezzlement and fraud. The stockholders demanded their untracked money, but Smoot could not cough it up. The track folded, and the land was divided between the Hilton and the Convention Center. Smoot died poor, a horse bettor until the end.

The Players

The real horse players haven't changed, even after 75 years. A real bettor keeps his handicapping system a sworn secret, one he would take to his grave. The old win-place-show routine still keeps men glued to the numbers, even though now gamblers are more likely to watch races on live satellite feed through mega-screens than through a mobster's wire. Bookies still analyze odds and post bets, but most pro gambling in Vegas occurs at the hotels’ giant sportsbooks, where odds are set and betting goes through corporate coffers instead of mobster's sketchy account books.

Bally's sportsbook is one of the best places to pick a horse in Vegas. (Wikimedia photo)

That doesn't mean the thrill is gone. Bettors don't need violence and shoddy deals to win big at the races. The upcoming Saratoga will prove a massive payout for someone's lucky trifecta. And where are the best places to play the ponies in Vegas? The Bellagio's world class sportsbook is a Sin City favorite, with leather wingback chairs and table service. Dads everywhere praise its pulled pork sandwich and scotch menu, not to mention the private booths for race viewing. Our second choice is Bally's sportsbook with the arena feel, where a balcony bar overlooks hundreds of TVs tuned to races and giant screens blast results under a painted blue sky. The best Bloody Mary in town.

And while you're there, remember that small piece of history you hold in your betting ticket. A lot of heads were knocked to get you that satellite feed. A lot of phony checks were distributed to politicians. Some guys even took bullets in the head for merely placing their bets with the wrong Las Vegas bookie. So relax, enjoy the pulled pork and don't squeal on somebody's odds. You could end up a real player, if you work the numbers right.