A court ruling later that year permanently shut them down.

On August 1, 1939, state authorities raided SS Texas and SS Rex off Santa Monica and Showboat and SS Tango off Long Beach. California Attorney General Earl Warren ordered raids on the gambling ships. Īnthony Cornero operated the gambling ships SS Rex and SS Tango during the 1930s. Other gambling ships operating off California during the 1930s included Rose Isle (aka Johanna Smith II), Casino (fka James Tuft), SS Texas (aka City of Panama aka Star of Hollywood aka La Playa), Showboat (aka Mount Baker aka Caliente), SS Reno (operating off San Diego), and William H. On New Year's Day 1937, during the Great Depression, gambling ship SS Monte Carlo, well-known for 'drinks, dice, and dolls,' was wrecked on a beach about a quarter mile south of the Hotel del Coronado, near San Diego. Also in 1928, the lumber schooner Johanna Smith was converted to a gambling ship and moored off Long Beach, California. The barge Monfalcone was purchased in 1928 by a group including Los Angeles crime family boss Jack Dragna and started offering gambling off the coast of Long Beach.

In the United States, in addition to federal law, states statues regulate the legality of gambling ships in their waters.

The redefinition of territorial waters to 12 nautical miles-approximately 13.8 miles (22.2 km)- in 1982 made maintaining a gambling ship much more uneconomic. Gambling ships, like offshore radio stations, would usually be anchored just beyond it. Historically, international waters began just 3 miles (4.8 km) from land in many countries, popularly referred to as the ' three-mile limit'. Other ships also offer gambling as part of their onboard entertainment, but are not 'gambling ships' per se. This applies both to ships which are permanently moored somewhere outside the limits, or, when legal, that can transit back and forth from a nearby port where it is not. Palm Beach Princess off Freeport in the Bahamas in 2006Ī gambling ship is the term for a ship stationed offshore in or transiting to international waters to evade local anti-gambling laws that is dedicated to games of chance.

For the films, see Gambling Ship (1933 film) and Gambling Ship (1938 film). This article is about a ship on which gambling takes place.

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