Video: 'History of Las Vegas: Casinos and Crime'

(Thursday, March 19, 1931, afternoon PST) — Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signed Assembly Bill 98 into law this afternoon, legalizing most forms of gambling in the state in order to bring economic relief during the Great Depression.

Interest in development in the state was slow at first, as the state itself had a limited population.

After 1945, enforcement of gambling laws became more strict in most places in the U.S. and the resort town of Las Vegas became an attractive target for investment by crime figures such as New York’s Bugsy Siegel. The town rapidly developed during the 1950s, dooming some illegal gambling venues such as Galveston, Texas.

Thanks to cheap air travel and auto access from California, Nevada, and Las Vegas, in particular, became the center of gambling in the U.S. In the 1960s, Howard Hughes and other legitimate investors purchased many of the most important hotels and casinos in the city, gradually eliminating the city’s connections to organized crime.