UNLV Launches Oral-History Project to Preserve Stories of 10 Legendary Nevada Bookmakers

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas has launched an oral-history project to document the lives of 10 legendary Nevada bookmakers before that generation’s stories are lost for good. The interviews are being conducted by gaming historian David G. Schwartz and veteran casino executive and regulator Richard Schuetz, working through UNLV’s Oral History Research Center.

The idea grew out of Schuetz’s own sense of urgency about preserving a vanishing era of Nevada sports betting. “The essence and history of traditional sports betting, we’d better get it captured soon,” he said. “A lot of these guys are getting older, including me.” When Schuetz returned to Nevada after years away, he found that little had been done to formally document the state’s sports betting history, so he decided to help fill the gap himself.

Two Veterans, One Mission

Schuetz brought the idea to Schwartz, a gaming historian and biographer of casino pioneer Jay Sarno, calling him “the smartest guy on the planet in gambling.” The two have known each other for more than 20 years, and Schuetz described teaming up with Schwartz as “a dream come true.” UNLV’s Oral History Research Center embraced the project and even allowed the pair to personally conduct the extensive interviews themselves, something Schuetz said was essential to capturing the authentic voice of longtime bookmakers.

Schuetz traces his interest in oral history back to his graduate-school days at the University of Nevada, Reno, where professors Glen Atkinson, Bill Eadington, and Mary Ellen Glass introduced him to the reminiscences of Ed Olsen, a former Associated Press correspondent who chaired the Nevada Gaming Control Board from 1960 to 1966 under Gov. Grant Sawyer. Schuetz became fascinated by Olsen’s firsthand accounts of Mob involvement in Nevada casinos, including stories of the FBI wiretapping mob-connected figures in their homes and even their bedrooms. “I learned stuff from the oral histories that you could never learn from just the newspapers,” Schuetz said.

Chronicling a Rapidly Changing Industry

Nearly 50 years later, Schuetz remains devoted to preserving these stories, driven partly by how dramatically the sports betting industry has transformed. “I just find the bookies fascinating, especially today where it’s changing dramatically. So much of it is automated now,” he said, expressing a preference for the personal, relationship-driven model of the old-school Nevada sportsbook. That evolution mirrors the broader shift the industry has seen as legal sports betting spread well beyond Nevada’s borders in recent years.

Schwartz echoed that sentiment in a press release announcing the project, calling oral histories “a wonderful tool to help a community understand its culture and history” and noting that the growth of sports betting nationwide makes it “important that we chronicle where it all started.” Schuetz’s connection to the subject runs deep — during his time at the Stardust, he worked directly with numerous oddsmakers and recalled the casino’s 11 pay phones being constantly jammed with bookies. “They were the highest revenue-producing pay phones in the world!” he said.

How the Ten Will Be Chosen

Schwartz and Schuetz will select the 10 bookmakers to be profiled with help from an advisory committee that has not yet been named. The project is being financially backed by veteran oddsmaker Michael “Roxy” Roxborough, whom Schuetz first met in 1986 while setting up the sportsbook at the old Frontier casino. Roxborough helped the Frontier establish its betting lines, and from 1982 to 1999 his Las Vegas Sports Consultants service supplied odds to the overwhelming majority of Nevada casinos.

Asked why he and Schwartz chose an oral-history format rather than writing a traditional book, Schuetz laughed off the idea, saying he wasn’t about to author 10 separate biographies. He added that oral histories tend to be more candid than memoirs, which he feels can lean self-serving. Subjects will still get a chance to review their material beforehand and can choose to withhold certain details before the interviews are made public. Once recorded, the sessions will be transcribed by UNLV and released one at a time through the university’s website as they’re completed.

Schuetz joked that his ideal deadline was simply “before I die,” but he and Schwartz are hoping to release all 10 profiles within a year. When asked whether the notorious Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal — the infamous bookmaker and casino skimmer portrayed in “Casino” — would have made the list had he still been alive, Schuetz didn’t hesitate: “Without question.” Anyone following the modern betting landscape, including bettors who track how Nevada sportsbooks have evolved from that old pay-phone era into today’s mobile-first market, will find plenty to appreciate once these stories become public.