Our Stories Resort Blog

Dig a little deeper into stories about our history, unique guest features, and what’s happening around the resort.

Posts

A Peek at Some Relics from the Illegal Gambling Era

An old casino table and equipment

Recently in our blog, we filled you in about the illegal casinos that once existed in French Lick and West Baden Springs. And while there's really no photo documentation of what the inside of these casinos looked like — it was illegal, ya know, so photo proof doesn't really exist — we are lucky enough to have a few relics to offer a glimpse into the world of underground gaming that was a booming business here a century ago.

a bag full of colorful tokens

One of the coolest things is a bag of about 350 chips from the old Brown Casino. They were passed down through the family of an associate who works here at French Lick Resort. These once belonged to his uncle, who used to play poker at the Brown Casino before it was closed when the area's illegal casinos were shut down in 1949.

a group of colorful round tokens with symbols on them

There's about a dozen varieties of colors and patterns, and the "B C" on the orange chips make it unmistakable they came from the Brown Casino, or Brown Club as it was also known as. Officially, it was called the Brown Hotel, but for obvious reasons, none of the illegal casinos called themselves casinos.

a group of brown chips

a close up of a token


The French Lick West Baden Museum (right across the highway from the south end of French Lick Springs Hotel) is also a fantastic source of some rare casino items: including a couple carved stone faces used to decorate the outside of the Brown Casino.

a statue of a womans face

a group of clay faces on a green surface


There are hardly any known relics that still exist from the Babylon Club, but this pair of dice is one of them.

two dice on a table


Among the other Brown relics: a card/chip holder, roulette wheel, and a "Chuck-a-luck" game, also known as birdcage, which was a game of chance using a trio of dice.

a wooden card holder with a piece of paper on top

a roulette wheel with a ball on top
 

a game cage with dice in it

 

From the Gorge Inn came this croupier badge, which used the person's identification number instead of name. Similarly, croupiers would address their regulars without saying their full names. For example, they'd call customers "Mr. D" or "Mrs. W" instead of Mr. Davis or Mrs. Washington.  

a gold plaque with black text


Something else that's survived the years are china sets from the old casinos. Many of the illegal casinos operated under the guise of calling themselves cafes, clubs or inns. So they were places you could go to have a nice dinner first, then stay a while for some fun and games afterward. 
a white plate and cups on a marble table 

The pale blue china above and silver set below are both from the Hoosier Country Club.

a silverware on a marble surface

a group of plates and a teapot on a marble surface

Each casino featured its own distinct design on the china in their establishment, including the Gorge Inn's signature "G I" insignia and the "E C" representing the Elite Club. 

a group of tea cups and saucers


Notice anything different about the teacup below compared to the other Elite Club china above?

a small white cup with a red and green design

This is marked with the letter "B" instead of "EC." It's believed this was from Ed Ballard's collection and was created specially for him. Ballard is the man who owned and controlled much of the casino business here, and he was also the owner of West Baden Springs Hotel from 1923-1934.

Tagged In:

Related Posts

Search