PBA Galleries

Approx. 7 pages, including 1 page typed draft of a lease agreement, with pencil addition, and 6 pages or partial pages of ink notes on 4 leaves.

Notes relating to the sublease from Harold S. Smith (founder of Harold's gambling club in Reno) for space in his casino to Joseph Spencer Hobson, for the later to operate a Race-Horse Keno game. In 1933 keno had been introduced in gambling houses in Reno, Nevada, under the name Race-Horse Keno, with names of horses instead of numbers on the tickets so as not to conflict with state laws concerning lotteries. These manuscript documents are apparently the first evidence of its appearance in Reno's most famous gambling house. The notes are perhaps in a lawyer's hand, or Hobson's, and include sketches of the Keno table, notes on finances, etc. Joseph Hobson and his brother Pick opened the Hawthorne Club in 1941 in Reno.