By Phil Roberts, Oct. 2021
Wyoming politicians, publishers, and church leaders have led opposition to gambling throughout the state’s history. Some of these attempts came about through “anti-gambling crusades” while others were hatched by politicians, no doubt assuming the majority of the state’s populace were against games of chance.
Some of the religious and newspaper crusades have been well documented by historians. See, for example, William H. Moore, Pietism and Progress: James H. Hayford and the Wyoming Anti-Gambling Tradition, 1869-1893. Annals of Wyoming 55 (Fall, 1983), pp. 2-8. Gov. Milward Simpson’s efforts to eliminate gambling in his hometown of Jackson in the 1950s are regularly recounted in the press. Others are not as well documented or remembered.
Attorneys-General in many administrations have issued official opinions on various forms of gambling. One such endeavor occurred in 1935, oddly, the same year that a majority of both Houses of the legislature had just passed a law to legalize gambling, only to watch helplessly from home while it was vetoed by Gov. Leslie Miller after the legislature adjourned.
During legislative debate, several members noted that gambling ought to be legalized because it was so ubiquitous in the state anyway. At the end of February 1935, just as the legislature was adjourning, AG Ray Lee ordered that all gambling laws be enforced in every county.
He sent notices to county sheriffs of all 23 counties and all municipal mayors. Immediately, the press reported that a “hundred slot machines [were] taken in a raid at Sheridan.” The Wyoming Eagle reported that: “Tipped off, owners of slot machines in Gillette quickly removed and hid them.” Cheyenne officials took no direct action, but warned that slot machines “must be removed by midnight” of the following day.
By week’s end, the press noted that Casper and Laramie had ordered compliance and “were just mopping up.” The county sheriff in Carbon County ordered all gambling to cease by that Wednesday. “[Sheriff McPherson] issued the warning that if the order wasn’t complied with, that gambling devices would be confiscated and violators punished.”
In another town, the lawyer representing one of the slot machine owners asked the question as to whether the law also applied to “theater bank nights.” Lee responded that they would constitute “lotteries,” illegal under the law.
By the end of the month, and after a flurry of raids in just a half dozen counties, the campaign against gambling took another hiatus. Sheridan, it turned out, was the only place where slot machines were taken.
The serious efforts at stopping illegal gaming were lightened by a story from Newcastle. A local mother called Fred Williams and asked if he was the state game warden. When he said he was, the woman said she was needing his help. “I’m having a birthday party for my son this afternoon and I wonder if you wouldn’t suggest some good games.”