Question of the Day - 10 November 2023

5/4/12

Not quite, but almost.

Back in 1966, much to the chagrin of then Nevada Attorney General Harvey Dickerson and numerous others, the Silver Nugget in North Las Vegas announced a plan to introduce topless blackjack dealers. In an interview with the press in April of that year, Dickerson disclosed that his office had received several complaints from existing dealers at the property, who said they’d been told they risked losing their jobs if they weren’t prepared to take off their tops. To this, the assistant general manager of the casino replied, "No comment," while the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission responded with "I don’t know, I don’t know" when questioned on the legality/appropriateness of the move.

While we’ve read a couple of reminiscences from old-time residents or visitors who recalled "topless blackjack" at the Silver Nugget, from what we can tell, in order to avoid Dickerson’s threatened high-court injunction, the casino compromised and clad its sexy new dealers in pasties, with transparent shirts over the top, so they weren’t actually topless. (And we found photo, posted below.)

We’re not sure how long this experiment lasted, but it appears to have been short-lived. Here's the official caption to the photograph as it originally appeared on April 16, 1966:

"Blackjack dealers Dianne McMillin (L) and Jaye Boack work in the pit at the Silver Nugget Casino here, wearing costumes with see-through tops. The management brought the girls on during the 1 to 8 A.M. shift, contending they were not topless (they have on chiffon transparent tops with pasties underneath), and therefore should not cause any objections from the Gaming Commission or the Attorney General, who earlier said he would go to court for an injunction against them."

Then there was the Centerfold Casino, which operated from 1975 to 1977 in the lot at the corner of Sahara and the Strip where the Bonanza Gift Store is now and subsequently became the Jolly Trolley, remaining in business until 1981. Aside from being a former butcher shop and a notorious grind joint, in both incarnations, this casino's principal claim to fame was for being the only casino in Las Vegas, to date, with a bona fide strip club inside.

Advertised on the marquee as "Naked But Nice," the burlesque show featured a succession of strippers on a stage at the edge of the pit, dancing to raunchy popular music, with a lineup that sometimes included fairly well-known strippers and porn stars from the era, including Dusty Summers and Marilyn Chambers. Other featured acts were the Fantasy Follies and the Loose Caboose Comedy Players. A photo of the burlesque is also below.

Initially, the burlesque performance was a free show for all casino players to enjoy, but at some point a curtain was put around what became known as the Loose Caboose stage and a $3 fee to watch was introduced. In the early '80s, trouble with mobsters from New Jersey trying to infiltrate the joint forced it to close, ending Las Vegas' brief experiment with casino nudity.

In 2008, Penthouse magazine briefly posited a plan for a Penthouse-themed hotel-casino in Las Vegas that would have featured semi-naked or even fully nude dealers, but that plan was abandoned before anyone bothered to find out if it was even legal and the former Penthouse strip club offered nothing raunchier than free Monday Night poker tournaments before it transformed into what's now Crazy Horse III. (We read an account online of topless blackjack being dealt at Penthouse, but we doubt the club had the requisite gaming license and the writer was probably confusing blackjack with poker. If anyone out there knows to the contrary, please drop us a line.)

Sapphire topless club also hosted a series of "strip poker" tournaments in 2011, with well-known poker players like Todd Brunson and Gavin Smith taking part. Each was teamed with a dancer from the club, who'd remove an item of clothing if her player lost a pot.