Gambling ship

A gambling ship was a barge or other large vessel used to house a casino and often other venues of entertainment. Under the old "three-mile rule" of territorial waters they were anchored usually just over three nautical miles off the United States coastline to avoid governmental interference. Organized crime was frequently involved in their operation.

State governments later tried to control the effect of gambling ships through the use of convoluted statutes, such as this California law, still on the books When territorial waters were redefined to 12 nm, this made the prospect of maintaining a gambling ship by any means extremely impractical.

Californian gambling ships appear in several novels of the period, including Sing a Song of Murder (1942) by James R Langham and The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (1937) by Erle Stanley Gardner.

Examples of Gambling Ships

Palm Beach Princess