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Vegas-on-Potomac
I'm posting this old article in light of this thread:
Sat Jul 9, 2022: Bay Area Doctor Plans to Offer Abortions Via Boat off the Gulf of Mexico
The state boundary between Virginia and Maryland is the right side of the Potomac River. At this point, the river belongs to Maryland. What happens in or above the river is subject to Maryland law.
Vegas-on-Potomac
By Jessica Merrill June 11, 2003
A summer night in Colonial Beach: The piers stretching into the Potomac pulse with activity. College kids have ferried down the river for wild evening escapades. Martini-wielding jet-setters from Washington and Richmond have flown in on champagne seaplane flights. Some tourists are swinging their shoes to the night's big band at the Joyland; others stroll the boardwalk and take their chances on the games of Bentley's Amusement Pier. ... But the epicenters of glitz and glam are the casinos. At dockside dens such as the Jackpot, Little Reno and Monte Carlo, ladies and gents dressed to the nines cash in at the slots, then sidle up to the bar to drop their winnings. Here, just 65-odd miles downriver from the Washington Monument, is a good-time precinct known as the "Las Vegas of the Potomac." ... Never heard of it? That's because you're about 50 years too late.
In the 1950s, Colonial Beach in Virginia's Northern Neck was a notorious gambling hotbed, a wildly popular nightlife resort drawing revelers from throughout the region. The town had been a popular summer getaway for the urban set since the early 1900s. But when a quirk of geography let Colonial Beach take advantage of Maryland's slot machine laws, the resort went on a gaming spree that lasted nearly a decade.
{snip}
In the 1950s, with slot machines legal in Maryland, Colonial Beach thought to cash in on its Potomac-side location by building slot casinos on piers, over a river that was officially Maryland territory. The town may be in Virginia, but for nearly a decade, legal gambling was just a dock walk away from the banks of the Old Dominion.
But as they say in the wagering world, easy come, easy go. In 1959, at the urging of Virginia legislators, Maryland changed its gambling laws to outlaw slots off Virginia's shores. And Colonial Beach tourism, after an impressive half-century run, finally came up lemons.
{snip}
By Jessica Merrill June 11, 2003
A summer night in Colonial Beach: The piers stretching into the Potomac pulse with activity. College kids have ferried down the river for wild evening escapades. Martini-wielding jet-setters from Washington and Richmond have flown in on champagne seaplane flights. Some tourists are swinging their shoes to the night's big band at the Joyland; others stroll the boardwalk and take their chances on the games of Bentley's Amusement Pier. ... But the epicenters of glitz and glam are the casinos. At dockside dens such as the Jackpot, Little Reno and Monte Carlo, ladies and gents dressed to the nines cash in at the slots, then sidle up to the bar to drop their winnings. Here, just 65-odd miles downriver from the Washington Monument, is a good-time precinct known as the "Las Vegas of the Potomac." ... Never heard of it? That's because you're about 50 years too late.
In the 1950s, Colonial Beach in Virginia's Northern Neck was a notorious gambling hotbed, a wildly popular nightlife resort drawing revelers from throughout the region. The town had been a popular summer getaway for the urban set since the early 1900s. But when a quirk of geography let Colonial Beach take advantage of Maryland's slot machine laws, the resort went on a gaming spree that lasted nearly a decade.
{snip}
In the 1950s, with slot machines legal in Maryland, Colonial Beach thought to cash in on its Potomac-side location by building slot casinos on piers, over a river that was officially Maryland territory. The town may be in Virginia, but for nearly a decade, legal gambling was just a dock walk away from the banks of the Old Dominion.
But as they say in the wagering world, easy come, easy go. In 1959, at the urging of Virginia legislators, Maryland changed its gambling laws to outlaw slots off Virginia's shores. And Colonial Beach tourism, after an impressive half-century run, finally came up lemons.
{snip}