Sands Hotel Photograph Collection, PH-0287_0137.
Special Collections and Archives (SCA) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is the premier repository for archival materials related to the history of gaming and gambling. The collection includes rare books and manuscripts, periodicals, photographs, paper ephemera, gaming literature, and a small number of artifacts. Together, these materials document and preserve the history of humankind’s oldest pastime, as well as the industry that developed around it, from the early modern period to the present day.
SCA’s manuscript collections include:
- Records of commercial and tribal casino properties
- Papers of influential figures in the gaming industry
- Collections on gaming policy and research
- Materials related to casino design, gaming law and regulation, problem gambling, gaming technology, horse racing and sports betting, and specific games
In addition, SCA has assembled a substantial collection of historical images and other visual materials related to gaming and gambling, including photographic prints, negatives, slides, and architectural drawings. The collection is complemented by an extensive and growing library of subject-specific books, periodicals, and oral histories.
The gaming collection is especially strong in materials related to Las Vegas and Southern Nevada in the 20th and 21st centuries. At the same time, SCA continues to collect materials that fall outside this geographic and temporal scope. Among these is Robert Taxe’s private collection of gaming-related rare books and manuscripts, which date from the early modern period through the early 20th century.
Highlights of the Taxe Collection include moralizing sermons on the evils of gambling, treatises on specific card games, scandalous exposés of gamblers and their dissolute society, meditations on game theory and games of chance, and parliamentary and political debates.
You can discover SCA’s gaming-related materials (many of which have been digitized) using the Special Collections Portal, the online catalog, findings aids, and the gaming research guide.
Like all of SCA’s holdings, the gaming collection is open to serious researchers and the casually curious alike. Scholars who wish to work with materials in the gaming collection in person should consider applying for an Eadington Fellowship.
Research in the gaming collection
Explore this detailed guide to the gaming collections.
For specific inquiries about the gaming collection or gaming-related research at SCA, or to set up a research consultation, email Kristian Taketomo, Curator for Gaming Collections, at kristian.taketomo@unlv.edu.
Gaming industry statistics
SCA regularly compiles and publishes reports of gaming industry statistics collected at the city (Las Vegas and others), state, and federal levels, as well as statistics for tribal gaming and online gaming. Some of the most requested reports are linked below.
Explore a comprehensive list of gaming industry statistical reports.
Eadington fellowship
Special Collections and Archives invites interested scholars to apply for a William R. Eadington Fellowship. The Eadington Fellowships are intended to facilitate on-site research into any aspect of gaming, gambling, or Las Vegas using collections at the University Libraries.
Two types of fellowship are awarded:
- Four-week resident fellowships ($3,000 stipend)
- Two-week visiting fellowships ($1,500 stipend)
The application cycle opens in mid-May and closes on July 1. Applications are not currently being accepted.
Please explore our Eadington Fellows page for more information.