Decades of Shenanigans at the Iconic Casinos of the Las Vegas Strip Will Be Revealed!

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES, May 21, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Every year the non-profit Casino Collectibles Association features four fascinating and free educational seminars related to gaming history at the World’s Largest Casino Memorabilia Show. This year, they are the next best thing to being a fly on the wall during the golden years of the iconic Las Vegas Strip casinos. The seminars do a deep dive on the behind-the-scenes history of the Dunes, Sands and other famous but long-gone Strip casinos. Each seminar will be presented across the hall from the CCA show floor in the Joshua Room of the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Attendees are asked to arrive before each presentation’s scheduled start time, and they are encouraged to pose questions of the speakers at the completion of each seminar.

The seminar topics, speakers and appearance times are as follows:

History of the Sands—its construction, operation, expansion, highlights, and demise. Dr. David G. Schwartz is a gaming historian, and a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he teaches several classes including casino history. From opening to implosion, the forty-four year life span of the celebrated Sands casino is directly linked to the story of the growth of gaming, Las Vegas, and the Strip. No one knows the story better than Schwartz, author of At the Sands: The History of a Las Vegas Strip. Seminar: Thursday, June 13 at 8 a.m.

The Dunes Hotel; the Mob, the Connections, and the Stories . Geno Munari is a multifaceted professional in the gaming industry, working for and operating several casinos in the Vegas area. He parlayed that experience and his personal contacts into the only book about the famous Las Vegas landmark, The Dunes Hotel and Casino: The Mob, the Connections, the Stories. His seminar will feature stories of some of the Dunes Hotel’s characters and their connection to the infamous Meyer Lansky and Jimmy Hoffa, as well as the “chip-cup” scam that pilfered millions from the major casinos and led to a high-profile mob killing. Seminar: Thursday, June 13 at 3 p.m.

New Horizons—Preserving Gaming History with Podcasts. Rene Contreras is the host of the Side Bet Podcast. He will outline his journey into the hobby of chip collecting and how it led him to focus on a new way and a new platform for new and old collectors to educate, share and preserve gaming history. Seminar: Friday, June 14 at 8 a.m.

Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930 – 1955.
Lynn M. Zook is a noted Las Vegas historian/author who shares that history through her blog, ClassicLasVegas.com and her books. Lifted from the rich content of her latest book, Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955, her presentation will cover the iconic Strip casinos such as the El Rancho Vegas, Flamingo, Thunderbird, Desert Inn, Sahara, Sands, Riveria, Royal Nevada, and the Dunes. Seminar: Friday, June 15 at 3 p.m.

Public invited to attend these free seminars.
The free seminars run concurrently with the Casino Collectibles Association’s 31st annual show, which runs June 13 -15, 2024. The World’s Largest Casino Chip and Collectibles exhibition is open to the public and is a must-see event for anybody who is fascinated by gaming history. The show features the greatest single-location collection of the iconic artifacts and mementos that bring casino history, and memories, to life. Many are symbols of past gaming grandeur that are gone or becoming rare; souvenirs from when the casinos wanted customers to pocket their branded keepsakes as reminders of a memorable experience. Things like gaming chips of all denominations, gaming tokens, dice, slot cards, playing cards, matchbooks, ashtrays, menus, dinnerware, swizzle sticks, casino photos, post cards, signs, table felt – just about anything a casino could put its name on. Over 50 worldwide dealers will be on hand to offer attendees the unique opportunity to examine, buy, sell, or trade casino collectibles.

The exposition is the annual educational effort of the Casino Collectibles Association, a non-profit club with hundreds of members who passionately share the hobby of collecting and preserving the past. Show hours are June 13, 10 AM – 5 PM (admission $10), June 14, 9 AM – 4 PM (admission $5) and June 15, 9 AM – 4 PM (admission is free). Admission is free every day for First Responders, Active Military and Casino Employees with appropriate ID.

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Download high resolution photos of the club logo, Dunes and Sands postcard images, and the CCA speakers at https://ccgtcc.com/uploads/event/26/CCA-2024-Seminar-Speakers
Download high resolution photos of the world’s largest casino chip and collectables show at
https://ccgtcc.com/uploads/event/18/CCA-Convention-Photos-for-Media-Use

ABOUT THE CASINO COLLECTIBLES ASSOCIATION

The Casino Collectables Association, (CCA) is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) club devoted to the fast-growing hobby of collecting casino memorabilia. The club is a resource for information and history of gaming artifacts, including one of the largest archives of gaming manufacturer records and casino gaming chips. Become a member and take advantage of the experts who volunteer their expertise in this fascinating hobby. For more information, visit the club’s recently updated website at https://www.ccgtcc.com.

An educational project of the CCA, the Museum of Gaming History (MoGH) comprises an expanding series of fascinating casino memorabilia kiosk exhibits in Las Vegas located within The El Cortez and Plaza casinos, and the Mob and National Atomic Testing museums and Spinettis Gaming Supplies. The MoGH also puts on free gaming history seminars at the annual CCA show and maintains the ChipGuide, the world’s largest catalog of casino chips and collectibles, currently featuring over 324,000 items.

Editor’s note: The Casino Collectibles Association is the dba of the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club.

BRAD SMITH
Casino Collectibles Association
+1 740-244-7445
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The World's Largest Casino Collectibles Show 2024