Major Riddle Explained

Major Arteburn Riddle[1] (born ; died July 8, 1980)[2] was an American businessperson who owned several casinos in the Las Vegas area.

Riddle was born in Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of 11, he moved with his family to Indianapolis.[3] There, he eventually started working in his father's trucking and manufacturing businesses. By 1936, he was involved in an Indianapolis-area nightclub with illegal gambling, which was linked to mobster Al Capone and his Chicago Outfit. In 1940, he became involved with another gambling club in Moline, Illinois.[4] [5] Around this time, he was romantically linked to mob figure Virginia Hill.[6] [7] Riddle moved to Chicago in the 1940s.

Riddle made a fortune in the 1930s and 1940s with an oil and gas drilling company in Texas.[8] He also owned a trucking company in Evansville, Indiana, from 1937 to 1954.[9]

Riddle started his Las Vegas casino career in 1956, when he took over the Dunes. Riddle and his co-investors substantially expanded the hotel using loans from the mob-influenced Teamsters pension fund. He was also noted for booking the first topless showgirl revue in Las Vegas, Minsky's Follies, into the casino.[10]

He opened the Silver Nugget casino in North Las Vegas in 1964.[11] Around 1975, he took over the Riata Club and reopened it as the Silver City Casino.[12] [13] In 1977, he took over operation of the Thunderbird hotel casino and renamed it as the Silver Bird.[14] In 1978, he opened the casino at the Holiday International, under a lease from the hotel.[15] [16]

In 1963, Riddle wrote The Weekend Gambler's Handbook, a book of advice for casino gamblers. It became popular, despite containing some advice that was based on superstition rather than mathematics.[17] After the book's publication, he appeared as himself on the June 24, 1963, episode of To Tell the Truth, receiving two of the four possible votes.[18]

Riddle's son, Charles, died of suicide in 1966 at the age of 18.[19]

Riddle died on July 8, 1980, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, from pneumonia after suffering from a rare blood disease.[20]

Soon after his death, Riddle's casinos went into bankruptcy.[21] The Silverbird and the Holiday International closed down,[22] and the Silver Nugget and Silver City were sold off.[23] [24] Riddle's estate sold his remaining shares in the Dunes around 1984.[25]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Resort City in the Sunbelt: Las Vegas, 1930-2000. Eugene P. Moehring. University of Nevada Press. 2000. 79. 9780874173567 .
  2. News: Major Riddle, at age 73. Baltimore Sun. AP. July 9, 1980. Newspapers.com.
  3. News: Ex-Hoosier junketeer influences gambling from here to Vegas. Indianapolis Star. Richard E. Cady. Donald K. Thrasher. December 12, 1977. Newspapers.com. (part 2 of article)
  4. News: Off the record. Quad-City Times. Jim Arpy. June 5, 1960. Newspapers.com.
  5. News: Bookie, drug rings reported at Dunes, Aladdin hotels by IRS. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ronald J. Lawrence. April 6, 1980. Newspapers.com.
  6. News: Author separates 'good hoods' from 'bad gangsters'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Jane Ann Morrison. May 28, 2015. 2018-09-26.
  7. News: Along Broadway with Winchell. Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. January 29, 1941. Newspapers.com.
  8. News: Oil baron capped success in Las Vegas. Los Angeles Times. July 14, 1980. Newspapers.com.
  9. Book: The Strip: Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream. Stefan Al. MIT Press. 2017. 71–72. 9780262035743 .
  10. News: Moving forward. Las Vegas Review-Journal. January 9, 2009. 2018-09-27.
  11. News: Silver Nugget may be changing hands again. Las Vegas Business Press. Arnold M. Knightly. January 16, 2006. NewsBank.
  12. News: Laxalt's gaming interest shift to blind trust approved by commission. Reno Gazette-Journal. April 25, 1975. Newspapers.com.
  13. News: Thunderbird now the Silver Bird. Billboard. Hanford Searl. January 29, 1977.
  14. News: Thunderbird now the Silver Bird. Reno Gazette-Journal. AP. January 5, 1977. Newspapers.com.
  15. News: Las Vegas casino operations approved. Reno Gazette-Journal. AP. June 23, 1978. Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 600 left jobless as casino in Las Vegas shuts doors. Reno Gazette-Journal. AP. September 29, 1980. Newspapers.com.
  17. Book: Lucky You!: Proven Strategies You Can Use to Find Your Fortune. Randall Fitzgerald. Citadel Press. 2004. 45–46. 9780806525419 .
  18. Web site: To Tell the Truth . . 24 July 2022.
  19. News: Vegas gambler's son a suicide. Nevada State Journal. UPI. February 18, 1966. Newspapers.com.
  20. News: Dunes' colorful, troubled history. Reno Gazette-Journal. Myram Borders. November 18, 1985. Newspapers.com.
  21. News: Cher's upset. The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, CA. Dick Maurice. October 7, 1980. Newspapers.com.
  22. News: Torres reaches agreement to buy Silverbird Hotel. The Daily Spectrum. St. George, UT. UPI. December 17, 1981. Newspapers.com.
  23. News: Casino in bankruptcy court. Reno Gazette-Journal. July 3, 1986. Newspapers.com.
  24. News: Commission delays action on sports book. Reno Gazette-Journal. AP. October 14, 1981. Newspapers.com.
  25. News: Millionaire California farmer John Anderson won state approval Thursday.... UPI. May 17, 1984. 2018-09-26.

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