How Baccarat Came To Vegas......

Within a post on an internet site--someone touched upon the game of Baccarat coming to Vegas from Cuba to the Sands Casino and Resort.  Well true and as the say-"Here's the rest of the story"........

I remember reading about that in the book, 'Fly on the Wall' by Dick Odessky.  Great book on history of Vegas and pretty easy reading for most.  Highly recommend it.  (however, there is no game strategy and systems to beat all the games so you might not be interested!)

Credit for the following to the author as cited above.

....."Baccarat and its direct ancestor Chemin de fer were unknown in Las Vegas until 1953, when a Broadway actress made her nightclub debut at the Sands Hotel shortly after it opened.  A world traveler and gambler who'd fallen in love with baccarat in European casinos, Tallulah Bankhead was upset when she couldn't find the game offered anywhere in Las Vegas.

Between and after her shows at the Sands, she'd usually walk next door to Luigi's Restaurant to relax,  There was only problem: Luigi's had no casino.  Tallulah continuously badgered Luigi to open a few tables at which she could play--especially a baccarat table.

When Talullah was angry, the world knew about it.  Her voice could be best described as a loud rusty foghorn.  Luigi and his family determined that it would be easier to bring the game and go into the gambling business than to offend the first lady of Broadway and her many friends, who had also become excellent customers.  Back then, about all it took to get a gambling license was filling out some forms and presenting a couple of people in town who would vouch for your honesty.

Thus, when Talullah returned for her repeat appearance at the Sands later in the year, a baccarat table had been installed in Luigi's lounge area.  True to her word, Talulluh played there, at very high stakes, every night.  Her fans and admires took to the game as well.

One of Bankhead's closest friends was actress Marlene Dietrich, who lived in Beverly Hill's and came to Las Vegas during Bankhead's appearances. (She eventually signed her own contract to headline in the resort showrooms.)  Dietrich, too, was a baccarat player.  Both women were at the height of their fame and Luigi's suddenly became the favorite watering hole for many high rollers, who enjoyed being in the company of the two famous actresses.

The Sands, whose bodies were always alert for an emerging high-roller trend, opened its own baccarat table.  As operators of the first casino to deal the game, the bosses forever patted themselves on the back for "discovering" it.".......................

And that my friends, is the rest of the story!

Tony Renzoni introduced the game to the US, when brought the game to the Sands from Cuba, after the revolution.  His book ?Renzoni on Baccarat? includes his gambling philosophy and discusses his experience running a casino in Cuba.

The book is out of print, but I purchased an old copy on Amazon.

Some of what is in the book is included in this thread:

https://betselection.cc/bally's-blog/wise-words-from-tony-renzoni-a-professional-baccarat-player/

Yes you are correct, but what I wrote above coincides with Tommy Renzoni.  But Renzoni introduced it in 1958-1959 I believe and Tallulah Bankhead was influential in getting a big baccarat table installed prior to that.

As I said, you are correct, but it was Tallulah Bankhead influencing The Sands about the unknown game, which probably allowed Tommy Renzoni to be successful in opening Bac to the public, etc., etc.

"Baccarat in Nevada

A fact that may surprise you about
Baccarat is that it is completely absent
from Nevada's 1931 Assembly Bill 98
which legalized casino gambling. The
games the Nevada State legislature made
legal were: "Faro, monte, roulette, keno,
fan-tan, twenty-one, blackjack, seven-anda-half, big injun, klondyke, craps, stud
poker, draw poker".
Chemin de Fer became the first
version of Baccarat to be played in
Nevada casinos when the Sands opened a
table in 1958, but "Chimney" (as it was
often referred to) was never a major
game. Chemin de Fer is a non-banking
game where the house collects a rake on
the winning bets; like modern poker. The
modern form of Baccarat seen in today?s
Las Vegas casinos started out as Punto y
Banco and was first developed in
Argentina at the Mar del Plata casino
sometime prior to 1955. Cuban casinos
picked up the game in the 1950s and that
is where an American Gambler/Casino
boss discovered it. His name was Tommy
Renzoni.

In 1959 the Baccarat world changed
forever when Tommy Renzoni brought
this new version of Baccarat, Punto Banco
to Las Vegas from post-Castro Cuba via
Argentina. Punto Banco is essentially the
modern game of Baccarat we know today.

It is a banking version of Baccarat en
Banque and Chemin de Fer. On
11/20/1959, amidst a casino promotional
blitz Las Vegas saw a new chapter in
gaming history begin, the first Baccarat
table opened at the Las Vegas Sands.
Baccarat got off to a rough start; losing
$250,000 on its inaugural night. Luckily
for today's casino operators the folks
running the Sands in 1959 believed in the
game and stuck with it long enough for it
to show an inevitable profit. I wonder
what high limit rooms would be like
today if the Sands bosses had decided to
give up on Baccarat."