Posted on: September 11, 2024, 12:03h.
Last updated on: September 11, 2024, 12:13h.
Never has a gambling hall been more inaccurately named than Mr. Sy’s Casino of Fun. Fun was just not one of the experiences on offer at this sleazy slot joint, which operated in a strip mall across from the Stardust from 1962 to 1980.
What you did find a lot of at Mr. Sy’s were down-on-their luck seniors losing their Social Security checks a nickel at a time inside a never-clearing cloud of their own Marlboro smoke.
Mr. Sy was Seymore Husney, who got the money to open his own casino by inventing a coin display case for slot machines that became popular in the ’60s.
Because no level of sleaze was beneath him, Husney employed shills. They played his slots with house money and were instructed to scream exuberantly whenever they won.
He also left piles of “super funbooks,” at tourist locations all along the Strip, to attract new clientele. Targeting the vulnerable, these brimmed with coupons for free meals, cocktails and even rolls of nickels.
Husney knew that people — especially of the poor, alcoholic and gambling-addicted variety — would come for the steak or the $2 in nickels and stay until they were dead broke again.
Before becoming a comedian, Cleveland native Drew Carey spent four years struggling in Las Vegas, working as a bank teller and at a Denny’s on the Strip.
At one point, he lived in a weekly motel room on Fremont Street with blood stains on the walls and hookers coming and going next door.
“But I never got desperate enough to go to Mr. Sy’s,” he told longtime Las Vegas entertainment reporter Mike Weatherford for his 2001 book, “Cult Vegas.”
Mr. Sy’s Casino of Done
In 1979, America learned that Mr. Sy’s definition of fun included sex with minors.
On June 14 of that year, his arrest and indictment, for sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl two years earlier, made national news. Husney pleaded guilty, accepting a sentence of five years to life.
A year later, Husney’s attorney, Devoe Heaton, successfully argued that his client hadn’t understood the terms of the plea bargain.
Husney’s sentence was reduced to probation and time served. Las Vegas residents were enraged by the decision, which was covered by all the local news channels.
“I couldn’t begin to tell you how sorry I am,” Husney told KVBC-TV/Las Vegas after being freed. “I’ll be sorry for the rest of my life. I’m ashamed of my last name, I’m ashamed of my first name.”
And in fact, those names disappeared off the face of the planet. There are exactly zero Google or newspaper archive hits for Seymore (or “Seymour,” as it was often misspelled) Husney after he closed Mr. Sy’s in disgrace in 1980.
Since 1994, Mr. Sy’s former storefront has been occupied by Kimchi Korean BBQ.
“Lost Vegas” is an occasional Casino.org series spotlighting Las Vegas’ forgotten history. Click here to read other entries in the series. Think you know a good Vegas story lost to history? Email corey@casino.org.
