Tacoma's Sudden Slot Machine Surge
After local cigar shops were flooded with gambling machines, the city revealed a secret arrangement to legalize and tax the devices.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Additional slot machines have made their appearance since the first ones were brought out Monday. Just how so many of the machines happened to appear at once was a good deal of a mystery until a cigar dealer volunteered the information that the tip came from the police department that the machines could run. At the same time, information was given that the machines would be taxed regularly and that minors were not to be allowed to play them. The tax will be collected by fining the owners or lessees of the machines every month.
“Just how so many of the machines happened to appear at once was a good deal of a mystery until a cigar dealer volunteered the information that the tip came from the police department that the machines could run.”
Tacoma's early 20th-century history is defined by a 'wide open' town reputation, where the police often managed vice through extra-legal taxation rather than enforcement. This practice of 'taxing' illicit activity mirrors modern municipal debates over how to regulate gambling and marijuana dispensaries—deciding whether to police them out of existence or bring them into the civic fold to fund city services.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.