I wrote up that California ChipGuide listing for the Broken Drum a while ago, and researched the attribution at that time. Using newspapers.com I found that there were at least ten Broken Drum restaurants and bars around the country from 1942 to 1955. They are in many states, and at least two were in California, but none in Nevada. Using the search terms “card room”, “club room”, and “gambling”, I could find no connection to gambling at any of those places.

About half of the Broken Drum places used the motto “You Can’t Beat It” and the other half used the motto “It Can’t Be Beat”. The chips say “Can’t Be Beat”, so that is important. For example, the below 1949 ad is for a Broken Drum in Mount Vernon, New York. It used the correct “Can’t Be Beat” motto.

I think Nevada is an unlikely home for these chips, as I haven’t found any place with that name existing there during that time period. If someone can find a 1940s-1950s Nevada Broken Drum, I would change my mind.

The Kanakee, Illinois, establishment is unlikely as they used the wrong “You Can’t Beat It” motto

The Paradise, California, establishment is a maybe. The place used the correct motto and 1947 is the right time frame for when these chips were used. I couldn’t find direct evidence of a card room there, but it had a pool hall, which often had card rooms. during this period Paradise had several other legal card rooms in the 1940s and 1950s.

On the other hand, many UFC chips over the years have been incorrectly attributed to California. This might be a bigger problem for California than almost any other state. I think this is simply because after Nevada, chips from California might be the most collected, and people are hoping to find a place there for UFC chips. Some California ChipGuide listings should be looked at skeptically.