Gaming insights Gaming

Gambler’s delight

Written by Pai Yao

This article first appeared in the Sep/Oct 2015 issue of WGM.

If you’ve ever dreamed of creating a mini-casino in your own home, need some quality playing cards and chips or are simply after some unique souvenirs, downtown Las Vegas is the place to go.

Walk around any half decent casino’s gaming floors and you’re bound to see some very sexy equipment. From the carefully crafted gaming tables themselves to the chairs players sit on and even the chips being used, you wouldn’t be alone in thinking some of these items would look mighty fine in your living room!

As it turns out, the idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. In Downtown Las Vegas, just a few streets back from Las Vegas Boulevard, stands a Vegas institution selling pretty much anything and everything to do with the casino gaming industry.

Gamblers General Store first opened its doors in 1984 and in the 31 years since has grown to become not only a must-see tourist destination but a vital source of supplies for a number of Las Vegas casinos. Comprising 8,000 square feet of floor space, it is here the World Series of Poker came shopping earlier this year after discovering the playing cards provided by Italian manufacturers Modiano were too easily bent out of shape.

Modiano quickly dispatched more durable cards to replace them, but in the meantime WSOP executives sent an SOS to Gamblers General Store and wasted no time in buying all 200-odd decks of Kem cards they had in stock.

More than just supplying the industry however, this is also one of the few places collectors and gaming enthusiasts alike can walk in off the street and depart minutes later the proud owners of a casino quality craps table – or even a table once used in a famous Las Vegas casino! In fact, some of the team here at WGM have been buying supplies from Gamblers General Store for more than 20 years.

Ironically, there is one other gaming supplies store in Las Vegas and it happens to be located right next door! Spinettis Gaming Supplies – owned by casino chip collector and expert Mike Spinetti – opened its retail store just a stone’s throw from Gamblers General Store in 2008, having previously operated online for a decade.

Spinettis Gambling Supplies

Spinettis Gambling Supplies

Although smaller than its neighbor, Spinettis nevertheless houses a huge range of gaming and casino equipment with, not surprisingly, its specialty being collectible chips. Just make sure you don’t mention the Spinettis name to Gamblers General Store staff – the rival stores don’t exactly see eye to eye and Gamblers General Store even installed a wire fence alongside its carpark a few years back to stop customers strolling directly across the rear laneway to the opposition!

Need some wall tins? Head to Gamblers General Store

Need some wall tins? Head to Gamblers General Store

If you get the chance, our tip is to visit both. After all, where else are you going to buy a roulette wheel to hang on your wall, an automatic card shuffler or the playing cards once used at Bellagio’s baccarat tables? Spinettis even has discarded casino chips for sale – complete with the chunk of the concrete they were originally buried in back when operators would hide retired chips in the foundations of new property developments!

While Spinettis has provided a fresh option for gaming types since opening seven years ago, Gamblers General Store has also undergone a transformation over the past 18 months. Early last year the business was sold to renowned gaming author and owner of the iconic Gamblers Book Club, Avery Cardoza, who has already made a couple of significant changes to the store’s layout. The first was to make space for Gamblers Book Club. Established in 1964, Gamblers Book Club has published and sold many of the most famous gaming books of all-time and in its heyday was frequented by everyone from poker players brushing up on the latest strategies to FBI agents studying the ins and outs of various gambling activities.

Chips and felts are in abundance at Spinettis

Chips and felts are in abundance at Spinettis

Since buying Gamblers Book Club in 2010, Cardoza has had trouble finding the right location but Gamblers General Store seems the perfect fit. And if you think the roughly 500 different decks of cards lining the adjacent wall is a lot, Gamblers Book Club is even more impressive with a whopping 3,000 titles.

Cardoza is also building a café and restaurant at the far end of the store serving breakfast and lunch. Given that the largely dilapidated Arts District surrounding Gamblers General Store can be pretty quiet most of the time, the half-finished restaurant seemed a strange idea when WGM stopped by recently but as it turns out the Arts District is next on the City Council’s Downtown rejuvenation agenda with $13 million set to be thrown into the beautification of the area. Most of this will happen directly outside the store’s front door!

Gamblers General Store has no shortage of souvenirs

Gamblers General Store has no shortage of souvenirs

If nearby Fremont Street’s recent revitalization is anything to go by, the project will make the Arts District another Las Vegas must-see destination, but for anyone with an interest in gaming supplies and memorabilia this is already the place to be.