Slot Machines (and Casino Gambling?) on the Maryland-Virginia Waterfront

between 1949-1958, gamblers could walk from the Virginia shoreline in Prince William, King George, and Westmoreland counties to slot machine casinos in Maryland, crossing on piers beyond the low water mark of the Potomac River to reach Charles and St. Mary's counties
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online

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In the 20^th Century, Maryland was far more relaxed about gambling than Virginia. After World War II, Maryland officials officially authorized slot machines in Charles County and St. Mary's County. That decision, plus the location of the Virginia-Maryland boundary, made it possible for Virginia gamblers to play the slot machines in Maryland without having to cross the Potomac River.

As defined in the 1632 charter to Lord Baltimore and later interpreted by Federal courts, the Virginia-Maryland boundary is at the low-water line of the Potomac River - not in the middle of the river. As a result of that location and because the two states had very different laws regarding gambling, people were able to step onto piers attached to the Virginia shoreline, walk a short distance above the Potomac River until crossing the low-water mark, and enter gambling casinos that were illegal in Virginia but approved by local officials in Charles County and St. Mary's County.

Slot machines, invented after the Civil War, were in operation in Charles County, Maryland by 1910. Officials in that state informally allowed the 'amusement devices' in restaurants, bars, even doctor's offices across southern Maryland. In some cases, children waiting for the school bus would run into convenience stores and bet their lunch money; one reminiscing state legislator commented that slot machines were 'everywhere except churches.'

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In the 1940's, state and local officials approved legislation that formally permitted slot machines in four counties, including Charles County and St. Mary's County. The governor endorsed local option, allowing for legalization by a local referendum, in exchange for support for a state sales tax. Because a Federal law (the Johnson Act) banned interstate transport of gambling equipment, those four counties ended up with a monopoly on the legal slot machine business on the East Coast after 1951.¹

four counties in Maryland used local option authority to allow slot machines, until the state legislature over-ruled them and banned slots between 1968-1997
Map Source: Maryland State Archives, Map of Maryland Counties & County Seats

The Route 301 bridge across the Potomac River had opened in 1940, and the location of the Maryland-Virginia boundary made it easy for Virginia customers to access slot machines in St. Mary's and Charles counties. Slots in Maryland were legalized during the days of segregation, and black customers stayed in black-operated motels and gambled in black-operated taverns and restaurants.²

Though a car/bus trip across the Route 301 bridge was convenient, gambling operators quickly identified a way to attract customers to Maryland slot machines without requiring a trip completely across the Potomac River. Gambling barges and shacks were located at the end of piers which stretched from the Virginia shoreline into the river, barely reaching across the Maryland-Virginia border.

Piers in King George County at Fairview Beach, and in Prince William County at Leesylvania, were connected to gambling boats that technically were in Charles County, Maryland. There were three waterfront gambling opportunities in Westmoreland County at the Town of Colonial Beach, Muse's Beach at the mouth of Pope's Creek, and at Coles Point.

the opportunity to gamble at Colonial Beach, on a pier extending into Maryland, was highlighted in a pre-Worrld War II postcard
Source: Boston Public Library, In Colonial Beach it's Monte Carlo for amusements and the Surf Room for dancing and cocktails

The Coles Point Tavern in Westmoreland County was licensed by St. Mary's County. All other waterfront gambling operations with piers connected to the Virginia shoreline were licensed by Charles County officials. In addition to the entertainment of slot machines, the Maryland establishments offered liquor by the drink, which was also against the law in Virginia.³

Five casinos operated at Colonial Beach, the Little Reno, Jackpot, Monte Carlo, New Atlanta, and Little Steel Pier. Guy Lombardo once attracted crowds to the Reno, which had a large dance floor in addition to over 300 slot machines. Slot machines were delivered by boat, staying within Maryland rather than using Virginia roads, to avoid violating the Johnson Act.

When high waves generated by Hurricane Hazel threatened a pier at Colonial Beach in 1954, the valuable machines could not be brought onshore for fear of confiscation by Virginia authorities. Instead, the slot machines were lowered by rope and pulley to another casino nearby, though three of them broke loose and were lost. The pier collapsed just half an hour after the salvage operation was completed.⁴

Plans to anchor three gambling barges just offshore from Gunston Hall and establish the 'Gunston Hall Yacht Club' were blocked. Opposition may have been successful in part because Clyde Tolson, the close confidant of Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover, lived near Gunston Hall. A pier was built in Prince William County at Leesylvania and a slot machine facility opened there, rather than at Gunston Hall.⁵

Owners of establishments with slot machines were closely connected to Maryland state officials, and bribery may have been a factor. One Maryland legislator who was given complimentary coins on a familiarization tour of casino at Colonial Beach chose put them into his pockets, rather than use the coins in the slot machines. When he slipped, people nearby:⁶

...grabbed his arms, [but] he had so much weight in his pockets that his suspenders broke. And his trousers came down.

Westmoreland County offered two opportunities, at Coles Point and Colonial Beach, for Virginia gamblers to walk across the border into Maryland
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online

In Prince William County, the SS Freestone (built in 1910 as a passenger steamer and originally called City of Philadelphia) was docked at Freestone Point on the old Leesylvania plantation. Customers walked on a short pier from Freestone Point to the ship, which was far enough offshore to be located in Charles County, Maryland. Plans to develop the peninsula at Leesylvania into a family amusement resort were publicized, but the main investment was in the gambling operation for adults.

Carl Hill's plans for developing the Leesylvania peninsula as the Pleasureland of the East included more than just the SS Freestone gambling boat
Source: Prince William County, The History of the Prince William County Waterfront

The gambling boat offered liquor-by-the-drink as well as 200 slot machines in 1957-58. The SS Freestone created tax revenue for Charles County in Maryland rather than for Prince William County in Virginia, but attracting as many as 15,000 customers on weekends did create jobs - including two teams of people hired to provide security, one authorized to enforce Maryland law on the boat and a separate team to enforce Virginia law on the land.

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When the Prince William Board of County