Special thanks to John Binder who did some research on The Dells address for me. Special thanks to Rick Pokracki for the newspaper articles in this post. Once again I need to make it clear the information in the “Illegal Of The Day” posts has many contributors. Some just have a little tidbit of info that peaks my interest and eventually it leads to a good story.

I got both of The Dells chips in 2008 in a surprise package (intended for Spragg and me) of maybe 80-90 illegal chips and samples from a friend at no cost to us. Thank you my friend. Spragg and I were like kids in a candy store going thru them. A couple fights broke out on who gets what.

Enough of that:

The Dells
Dempster Road outside of Chicago
Morton Grove, IL
Owner Sam Hare
Hub chips delivered 5/15/31
1600 chocolate

I believe the Skey to be a floor sweeping. It had a note on the flip.
“Weird Sample for Gene. I love weird samples!

“The Dells 1040” on one side off center
Obverse is the same die impression but no gold foil was in the die at the time.

IMO, there are Skey chips out there but I have never seen them. I can not say for sure they were made for the Chicago “The Dells” as the 1040 does not relate to an address on Dempster Road. The numbers could relate to many things. Maybe their IRS tax form? Either way it is one of the many-many neat chips in my collection. Special thanks to my friend for both the hub and Skey he sent me.

The following articles document murder, bribery, denial of bribery, mayhem, etc going back 20 years. I think we have seen all of this many times in other “Illegal Of The Day” posts. Why do I remember Illinois as having more than their share of this type of history?

Answer: IMO Illinois had as many or more illegal operations than any other state. They had more ruthless gangs that morphed from prohibition into the gambling business than other states. It started with Al Capone and did not end until “The Era Of The Illegals” ended. IMO, many of those same gangs are still operating in Illinois, with new ventures today, like politics.