In the Month of March

• March 1, 1777 The Continental Congress holds its first lottery to support the needs of the American Revolution.
• March 5, 1423 Bernardin of Siena, a Franciscan monk, in Italy, preached a sermon in Bologna against gambling. The assembled churchgoers were so moved by his eloquence they immediately scrambled to find all the dice and cards they could and cast them into a fire.
• March 6, 1986 Megabucks slot machines starts with 125 machines in nine casinos across the state of Nevada.
• March 7, 1933 The game of Monopoly is invented.
• March 12, 1964 New Hampshire becomes the first state since 1894 to have a state approved lottery.
• ·         March 16, 1911 Las Vegas is the first city in the state of Nevada to incorporate.
  • March 19, 1931 Nevada Governor Fred Balzar signs Assembly Bill 98 legalizing gambling and the six-week divorce statute.
  • March 20, 1931 Mayme V. Stocker, owner of the Northern Club in Las Vegas, is issued the first gambling license in Nevada.
  • March 21, 2003 The world record for a Megabucks slot jackpot, $39,710,826.36, won at the Excalibur hotel and casino in Las Vegas. A 25-year-old Los Angles software engineer was lucky enough to turn his $100 dollar investment into an overwhelming $1.5 million dollars a year for the next 25 years.
  • March 22, 1765 the British Parliament passed The Stamp Act. It required American colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed-paper they used, including playing cards. Cards were taxed at 1-shilling and dice at 10-shillings.
  • March 24, 1955 The Moulin Rouge opens as the first integrated casino in Las Vegas, six months later it closed.
  • March 25, 1668 The first official horse race in the American colonies is run.

March 30, 2003 The World Poker Tour airs for the first time on the Travel Channel TV show