Colorful cultural clashes

Colorful cultural clashes: "Colorful cultural clashes
By TAMARA LINSE
Star-Tribune correspondent Monday, December 13, 2004
LARAMIE -- The current controversies over barroom poker and electronic bingo are nothing new. Wyoming has had gambling and gambling legislation since before the state began.

You could say that Wyoming was settled on a gamble. Pioneers sold everything before coming to the unknown West, speculators laid out towns in sagebrush, miners dreamed of striking it rich, and farmers and ranchers won and lost fortunes due to drought or harsh winters.

Wyoming has a culture of informal gambling.

'People play poker with friends all over the state,' former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson said. 'All the Simpsons have been known to occasionally step up to the craps or the blackjack table.'
During territorial times and early statehood, gambling was widely accepted as entertainment"