Cuba -- Gambling Mecca
of the New World
[REF: CABARET magazine Dec 1956 pp. 33-34, 45]
GAMBLING MECCA OF THE NEW WORLD
EASY-COME-EASY-GO DOLLARS ARE BEING DEPOSITED IN LARGE CHUNKS
AS MANY FUN-LOVING AMERICANS CHASE LADY LUCK TO WEST INDIES TABLES.
By: Henry Durling
A NEW CONTENDER for Las Vega's title as the "Mecca of American
Gambling" is raising its head on the Southern horizon. It is
growing in the azure waters of the Caribbean, where dollar-hungry
island republics are rediscovering a non-dutiable export to attract
American money. The export is fun–enjoyed on the premises and
carried home in memories not subject to the searching eye of the U.S.
Customs Service.
In Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, enterprising operators are
vying with each other to show the American tourist–long a source of
important cash–new and more exciting ways to spend his money
faster. Cooperative governments have aided the effort by quietly
opening the door for a full scale rejuvenation of the long-neglected
gambling industry.
New casinos are popping up like exotic jungle blossoms throughout the
West Indies, and old ones are being rejuvenated in a full scale effort
to create a new Monte Carlo in the New World.
Leading the parade is Havana, long the premier metropolis of the
islands, where but a few years ago the visitor could find only one
topnotch night club-casino to take his money. Today three new or
newly-reopened temples of Lady Luck have been added to the lineup, with
a fourth in the works.
In the Dominican Republic, a lavish casino has been set up in Ciudad
Trujillo at the city's premier hostelry, the Juaragua Hotel.
Even Haiti, oldest but least developed of the West Indies republics, is
getting its foot in the door and at least one casino–the International
Club–is in full swing with official consent.
Keynote of the new operation is the same kind of luxurious atmosphere
combined with a willingness to let the smallest fry play, that is
characteristic of the best Las Vegas spas. This is largely due to
the vital part American operators–many from Las Vegas itself, others f
rom Miami, New York and Chicago–are playing in the renaissance of the
gaming table. Their presence lends substance to the report now
circulating in international café society and the gambling crowd
that "Las Vegas is going to the West Indies."
Gambling is, of course, nothing new to the Caribbean. It is a
vital part of every Latin's life. And combined with other
diversions in the green and the gold tropical lushness of the islands,
it has always had a special attraction for well-heeled tourists tired
after a day of sightseeing or sunning.
As early as 1919 its value as a tourist attraction was recognized by
the Cuban government, which offered a gambling franchise to anyone who
would put $2 million or more into an operation designed to attract
tourists. The plans backfired, however, when
irregularities–cheating, to put it bluntly– sent the tourist home more
often a shorn lamb than a satisfied sheep, and highly vocal about
it. Wide-open gambling, along with other commercially available
vices, there-upon fell into disfavor as more likely to discourage than
expand the vital trade of respectable tourists.
A reversal in official attitude has been made possible, however, by two
factors which appeared on the scene in recent years. One has been
the decline of Miami as a gambling center, as reform elements cracked
down on the profitable enterprises there. The other is the
resulting willingness of Americans to move to greener pastures
elsewhere.
The introduction of American gambling methods–which rely on percentages
to make the house nut–has given the attraction a new and more
respectable look as a tourist lure. Though Miamians and Miami
capital have led the overseas trek, once the course was set, other
interests moved in to share in the bonanza–especially the experienced
operators from Nevada.
A good example of the "new look" is the casino opened this year in
Havana's plush Nacional Hotel. Chips cost as little as a quarter
in this palatial gold-and-marble room. And Wilbur Clark, operator
of Las Vegas' famed Desert Inn, is in charge to see to it that everyone
from a clerk on a package tour to a millionaire on a holiday gets a
fair shake.
Clark opened the casino–first one in the hotel which has long set the
standard for top-quality and top-price Havana hospitality–at the
invitation of the Nacional's owners. It is operated in
conjunction with the ultra-high-priced Café-Parisienne, a
blue-and-cream-satin lined room where patrons can dine on pressed duck,
watch such top performers as Eartha Kitt, Jimmy Durante, then stroll
into the brilliant casino for an evening of gambling.
Clark is enthusiastic about the operation. "We have built every
night since we opened," he says. "It's far more successful than
we could have imagined, and we are pleased and honored to have been
invited to open the room."
Clark does not habitually use first person plural when speaking of
himself, and his "we" refers to himself and the same four partners who
co-own the Desert Inn with him.
Though large by Cuban standards, the casino itself is only of moderate
size compared to American rooms. It offers seven roulette, three
blackjack tables, one crap game, and 21 slot machines ranging from five
cents to a dollar a play.
Clark's analysis of the room's success probably holds the key to
American participation in the West Indies gambling rush: "We offer the
same kind of clean-cut gambling that we run in Vegas," he says.
"And the same, fast, exciting American-style ‘action,' which is
different from the more formal, slower continental style these people
are used to. We play simpler games, but we can play ten of them
in the time it takes a Monte Carlo croupier to run one."
Obviously pleased with the setup, Clark finds nothing in it to peril
the Nevada gambling empire. "The situation is entirely
different," he says. "Las Vegas is purely a resort, while this is
a metropolitan center. We are tapping a new market, not the same
one."
Though Clark is silent about the dollars and cents end of his
operation–reports are that some 4,000 players a week yield a gross
revenue in the hundreds of thousands–he is planning to shift the casino
to a separate $1 million building on the hotel grounds within a year.
His ideas about the market tapped by his operations are disputed,
however, by other operators in the field. "The West Coast crowd
is tired of Las Vegas," says one. "Business is falling off.
They'd like to draw the East Coast crowd, but those people can fly here
in half the time and at less cost than it takes to go West."
"They have to come down here if they're going to stay in
business. It's the same market. The only difference is than
down here it's easier to operate, and there's a lot more for the people
who come here than Las Vegas can ever offer."
For this season, American money and brains are reported behind at least
two other revitalized Cuban operations, the Oriental Park race track
and the Sans Souci night club. Both are operated with casinos,
both are enjoying a new rush of business under new management.
Lefty Clark, veteran Miami gambling pro, has lent his name to the Sans
Souci. The race track, onetime plush bailiwick of the exclusive
Cuban Jockey Club, is operating under Cuban management, but reports are
that the cash for refurbishing it and arranging its opening came from
Chicago interests.
Native Cuban operators are not being left behind in the dust,
however. The visitor who wants to rub elbows with the cream of
Cuban café society will find a ready welcome at the
long-established Montmartre, favorite of wealthy Cuban gaming fans,
where the tables open at 4 p.m. and run all night.
"Cubans and continentals are much more serious about their gambling,"
says Manager Mario Garcia Herrera, affable veteran of two decades in
the casino business. "We have catered to such tastes for years,
and we plan to continue doing so."
The Montmartre, he reveals, is also planning an expansion soon, to
enable it to take its share of the new business. Built in the
1920's as a combination casino and indoor dog track, it was severely
damaged in the political upheavals of the 1930's and later
remodeled. It will soon be enlarged by 45,000 square feet.
But even at the ultra Cuban Montmartre, the American influence is
felt. The club's extravagant shows are directed by American Joe
Carlyle, whose production numbers featuring American hit tunes, make a
big hit with Cuban audiences and are enthusiastically received by
visitors. Two different productions are offered each evening,
with a company of some 60 principals and chorines taking part.
For added interest, name performers like Dorothy Lamour and Maurice
Chevalier are featured in personal appearance spots skillfully worked
into the routines.
Herrera sees the pot of gold finally appearing at the end of the
rainbow for the West Indies in the resurgence of gambling. "You
can never enjoy in your country what you can find here," he says.
"Miami or Las Vegas are merely resorts. Here we offer the living
pulse of a world metropolis, wide-open and alive. Gambling may
make the piece de resistance but we have the garnishes."
He tells you that Havana once wasted an opportunity to become the
"world's greatest tourist city" when Prohibition cast its blue-nosed
pall over the states. "But in all of the political excitement,
nobody realized what the opportunity was, or how much we were
missing. The new government is working now to capture the present
opportunity. They are spending money on advertising. They
are allowing American concessions. And t hey are relaxing the
anti-gambling regulations to allow it to expand."
Proof of this expansion is the fabulous Tropicana, an ultra-modern,
half indoor and half outdoor, multi-million dollar club opened last
year. It offers glittering extravaganzas on the stages of its two
main rooms, succulent food at the table, and a fast-moving
casino. Its arrangement with Cubana Airlines, which brings a
tourist from Miami to the club for a night, pays his transportation,
hotel and gives him food and liquor, at a package rate of $70, is
typical of the aggressiveness of the expanding Caribbean gambling
industry.
This aggressiveness is matched, however, by the Dominican Republic,
where Dictator Rafael Trujillo is reported to have issued a dictum
giving gambling, and the necessary allied attractions top priority in
the national plan. Murray Weinger, builder of Miami's famous Copa
City night club, which faded when the Florida resorts cracked down on
gambling, is reported in charge of gambling at Ciudad Trujillo.
Rumor is that Weinger, who operated the Copa City for three years
profitably, leased it for two, then took it over for its last gasp two
years ago, has been offered an attractive arrangement in the republic,
and plans to operate there permanently.
More American money went into revitalizing the huge Juragua Hotel, when
a syndicate of Miami hotel men reportedly paid a half million for a ten
year lease, spent $100,000 remodeling.
And here some pessimists find what they feel is a hint of the future
for Americans in the West Indies gambling field. After their
remodeling was finished, the Americans were handed their lease money
back, and asked to leave. The hotel–and the casino which they
installed–are now operating, under native management.
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