Major Riddle

Major Arteburn Riddle[1] (born 1906 or 1907; died July 8, 1980)[2] was an American businessperson who owned several casinos in the Las Vegas area.

Riddle was born in Louisville, Kentucky.[2] 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.[3] By 1936, he was involved in an Indianapolis-area nightclub with illegal gambling, which was linked to mobster Al Capone and his Chicago Outfit.[3] In 1940, he became involved with another gambling club in Moline, Illinois.[3][4][5] Around this time, he was romantically linked to mob figure Virginia Hill.[6][7] Riddle moved to Chicago in the 1940s.[3]

Riddle made a fortune in the 1930s and 1940s with an oil and gas drilling company in Texas.[2][8] He also owned a trucking company in Evansville, Indiana, from 1937 to 1954.[3][9]

Riddle started his Las Vegas casino career in 1956, when he took over the Dunes.[2] Riddle and his co-investors substantially expanded the hotel using loans from the mob-influenced Teamsters pension fund.[9] 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.[13][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.[8] 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.[2][20]

Soon after his death, Riddle's casinos went into bankruptcy.[21] The Silverbird and the Holiday International closed down,[16][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.[20][25]

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