Theres a point gambling with that previous times does not have any rules and law regarding in too much gambling as long as they can play as they want the casino is open to them also some of the entertainment to them by that they can just enoy playing without getting problem about the regulations, only few people know how to manage themselves and there's other always play gambling just to make them fun for the whole day and repeat again.
And we do not need to go that far to the past to know this was true, when La Vegas was founded everyone knew the Italian Mafia was behind it, so if you won money at their casinos even if you did not cheated and it was just because you had good luck you could be sure that not only you will not get paid but you could even receive a beating, and since the police was in it as well then there was nothing you could do about it, so we are lucky we live at a time in which if you happen to win there are many laws and regulations which protect you from such an abusive behavior.
I don't believe this story, it is one of the unverifiable stories about gambling. If anyone runs a business like that, such a business will collapse real soon, it might be that they pay some and not pay others, anyway, it is a story, and it might be true or not.
But what is true is that the first licenced casino in Las Vegas is
El Rancho, and was built by
Tommy Hull who's a visionary. This man's clearly not an Italian but a Yankie who is a hotelier from southern California.