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While playing solitaire on my computer, I noticed an option called "Las Vegas Rules." Was solitaire ever played as a gambling game in Las Vegas?
For this answer we turned to David G. Schwartz, Director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and author of
Solitaire has a long history. Sometimes called patience, the game dates back to at least 1875 (though it may be much older), when Lady Adelaide Cadogan published the first English-language book on the subject. This illustrated guide described 22 variations of solitaire, many with more than one deck. Eight years later, a competing guide offered 44 versions, and by 1910 more than 60 had been cataloged.
The most common form of solitaire today, Klondike, is also known as Canfield, and was once called Demon. It's been alleged that legendary gambler Richard Canfield played the game under what are now called "Las Vegas rules," though Canfield's heyday came before the city of Las Vegas was founded, let alone became a gambling mecca. Under these rules, the player pays $52 for the deck, then receives $5 for each card that's played out. Though this game would return a steady profit to anyone banking it, it would require a dealer/player ratio of 1 to 1, making it too cumbersome for big-time play. Considering that during the time it takes to deal one "hand" of solitaire to one player, a casino could deal multiple hands to six blackjack players, it's easy to see why the game didn't catch on in American casinos.
While it's impossible to prove a negative (that no casino ever offered solitaire as a bank game), a quick troll through about 150 years of gambling guides turns up a negative for any mention of solitaire or patience as a casino game. It's likely that the dollar scoring system was tagged "Las Vegas rules" just because Las Vegas is known for casino gaming, and not because the game could actually be found there.
You can read up on the history of Las Vegas Solitaire as a gambling game, plus learn about the rules, odds, and strategy and play a free online version, at vegassolitaire.com.