I got the Sportsman’s 1606 Carey 10¢ chip from Bud Meyers at the Arizona Charlie’s Super Bowl chip show. Neither he nor I had a clue where it came from. Plain mold chips are tough to get ID’s on. I searched all known manufactures records for similar chips. NADA! I Googled it and got 30,000 hits. Screw that!

It laid around on my desk for 2 months. It finally caught my eye again a couple weeks ago. Why not give our “Friend of the hobby” a shot at it? What he found makes me look a little foolish. I checked the Taylor records but did not think to check the Taylor list of customers furnished to the Kefauver Commission in early 1950’s. When you have resources with the click of a mouse away and don’t use them you have to be getting “OLD!”

We now have the ID but I must admit I know very little about gaming laws in Wyoming. Enter Michael Knapp. He is retired in Montana just across the border from Wyoming. Many of you newer collectors may not know him. He was one of the original authors of our TCR and TGT. He also wrote a wonderful column in our Club Magazine for years on UFC’s. Readers sent them in and next issue readers sent in the ID’s. I miss that column! Wyoming gambling info below came from him. Once again, it took more than one Club member involved in obtaining an ID for a new Illegal Club chip.

Enough of that:

Wyoming:

Enter Michael Knapp

In the 1870's-1890's, Cheyenne was a pretty wide-open town known for its saloons and gambling halls. In 1901, though, the Wyoming legislature outlawed all gambling. Nevertheless, it flourished in a number of areas - Jackson being among them (the Cowboy Bar, Wort Hotel, etc.) - at least until the late 1950's when the governor started a statewide crackdown.

We know that there was gambling at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo (founded 1897), hence, the Frontier Nights chips we've seen.

An article from the Casper paper in 1962 said:

Gambling games will return to the Cheyenne Frontier Days for the first time since World War II this July.

Casino games using special coins will be part of the night show at Frontier Days.

The coins will not be redeemable in cash but can be used in exchange for merchandise or dance tickets. The coins will become invalid as soon as Frontier Days end.

Gambling for script [sic] was part of the show before the war.

Who knows exactly what was meant by "coins?"

My note: We have seen “chips” described as “coins” by people not in the know many times.

In 2007, WY changed the law to allow social games of poker. Businesses could host casual games but couldn't make a profit from them or market an establishment as a place to play poker. Players also had to have a "bona fide social relationship." But there's no definition for "bona fide social relationship" in state statute, so I suppose it's still up in the air.

Back to Cheyenne and the Sportsman. Interestingly, the rodeo grounds for Cheyenne Frontier Days is down the street a bit from where the Sportsman was located. Your research indicates the Sportsman at 1606 Carey; CFD is at 4610 Carey. The Sportsman dates seem consistent with the prohibition against gambling from 1901 and the ignoring of the state law in some areas until the late 1950's.

Enter our “Friend Of The Hobby.”

Info from the Taylor customer list:

There was a bar at the corner of Carey & W.16th in Cheyenne, WY called the Sportsman’s Bar.
I don’t know how long the place was around, but it was there in the 1930’s and still there in the 1950’s.
It used a couple of addresses: 300 W.16th and 1604 Carey—both in the same building.

Around 1947ish a new place opened in the same building using the address on the chip, 1606 Carey, called Sportsman’s Cigar (Sportsman’s Novelty Co. at same address too—both operated by a guy named Frank Merendino).

Here’s a pic of the corner; you can see the name “Sportsman Bar” on the sign (both Bar and Cigar sometimes spelled Sportsman, sometimes Sportsman’s). The left side corner is the 300 W.16th entrance and on the right side you can see the 1604 Carey entrance around the middle of the building. 1606 would be the next entrance near the end of the 2 story building.

map of the corner; 2 story building outlined in red; 300, 1604 & 1606 highlighted (today the whole block is gone)

By 1957 Merendino had moved the Sportsman Novelty Co. to a different address where he ordered some chips from Taylor. Looks like an FOE chip--aerie 2711 is Gillette, Wyoming.

I need this chip. Cough it up if you have a trader.

Sportsman’s Bar ashtray & match covers: