During the attack, one of Lane’s dealers killed one of Flynn’s thugs. In response, Flynn and several other men attacked and wrecked the Palace Casino. Lane refused to align with Flynn or pay a percentage to him for the right to operate his business. Lane soon opened two high-end gambling halls - the Palace and the Monarch. One man who dared to do so was a gambling entrepreneur from Illinois named Jim Lane, who arrived in about 1880. Flynn, most often called “Boss Gambler,” either owned or controlled seven gambling houses, and any who dared to enter Hot Springs and attempt to open up a rival gambling house were dealt with by the police. By paying law enforcement officers of the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office, he prevented any intervention in his illegal activities. During this time, a Canadian gambler named Frank Flynn had arrived in the city and, by the early 1880s, was in control of the gambling operations and many of the brothels. By the late 1870s, gambling had become an industry rivaling the hot springs’ healing waters.

Illegal gambling occurred in the city as early as the mid-1800s and was firmly established following the Civil War. Though visitors of Hot Springs, Arkansas, today don’t see the gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, and gangsters that were once rampant in the spa city, these operations had a strong foothold for decades, especially in the 1930s.

Central Avenue, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Detroit Publishing, 1900

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