When most people sit down at a slot machine, they are hoping to cash in on that big jackpot. Technology has changed the way we play the slots, but there is still one unique machine that hands out silver tokens and has collectors jumping.  Once these coins numbered in the thousands, now the historic Silver Strike slot machine is a dying breed with only a few left to play. Silver Strike slot machines were introduced by International Game Technology (IGT) in Reno, Nevada in 1992. At the time, slot machines were still in the early days of becoming computerized. After the introduction of Wheel of Fortune slots, which allowed players to spin the famous Wheel for bonus credits by landing on a certain symbol, bonus round machines took off with players, and the Silver Strike machine was not far behind. While the bonus round for most slot offers players a chance to rack up big credits, Silver Strike machine delivers a silver coin as a prize. During normal play you can bet the max of three credits, the third reel landing on the special Silver Strike logo activates the bonus round. The center chassis on the front of the machine will begin to spin and when it stops, one of a multiple varieties of silver clad slot tokens is dispensed. A special door opens with a fanfare and the coin is presented to the player. Each casino is responsible for the design and denomination of each Silver Strike token. When the machines were first installed, the coins were .999 silver, now many are silver and copper clad, but still have value. Each strike token is designed as a large silver casino chip, featuring customized artworks specifically designed for each casino. The player decides whether to keep the coin...

Too hungry to get up from that exciting blackjack game? Can’t stop for even a moment to get a bite to eat during that hot slot session?  The El Cortez Hotel and Casino, one of the nations oldest, has the answer – The Gambling Gourmet. Could this be the next trend in food? I had to give it a try! The El Cortez Hotel and Casino is located at 6th & Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, just one block east of the Fremont Street Experience.  The El Cortez was established before the glittering lights of the Las Vegas Strip. It was opened in 1941 as Vegas’ first casino resort.  The few other gambling halls that had opened downtown in the previous decade featured bare bones games, small restaurants, sawdust floors, and very small (or none at all) hotels, while the El Cortez had 59 rooms to offer. Within a few years of opening, mobsters Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Gus Greenbaum, and Moe Segway would purchase and run the property. A few years after, the previous owner J. Kel Houssels would buy it back, so the mobsters could go on to finance the construction of The Flamingo on the Vegas Strip.  (The money pit of The Flamingo would become cost Siegel his life, as he was gunned down in a mob hit a few years later.) Jackie Gaughan, a rising legend in the gaming world, would purchase the resort a few years later and it stayed in the family until 2009.  To this day, Gaughan still walks the casino floor and talks with visitors about “old Vegas”. The player’s club bears his name. When compared to other casinos in the area, the El Cortez is quite old and a bit run down, but...

Resorts International opened as the first casino outside of Nevada to legally allow full casino gambling in the United States. The Atlantic City landmark has a long history that goes back way before blackjack was legal.  From it’s time as a hospital to it’s new found fame thanks to HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and a naked circus, Resorts has a colorful past that’s all tied together thanks to the spin on the of Wheel of Fortune! The block Resorts currently occupies started off as two separate three story boarding houses during the early days of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s vacation boom era.  The Chalfonte House opened in 1868 and The Haddon House opened a year later on both sides of North Carolina Avenue. In 1896, Haddon House was expanded into a full hotel and took on a new name, Haddon Hall.  The Chalfonte was reconstructed as well and welcomed their first guests as a modern hotel on July 2, 1904.  Haddon Hall would continue to add new wings and expand their room count throughout the 20’s.  Shortly thereafter, the entire complex was bought and merged into one large complex and renamed.  The new Chalfonte-Haddon Hall and was connected via a pedestrian sky bridge and at the time of the merger, the count was a whopping 1,000 rooms making it the largest hotel in the city. During the early part of the 20th century, Atlantic City was one of the premiere vacation destinations in the US and vacationers were packing the hotels, especially in the hot summer months.  The long boardwalk, numerous hotels, amusement piers, and easy train access would welcome visitors for long stays to enjoy the shore.  Only a few of the numerous hotels that were operational during that time still survive today, including part...