LOST VEGAS: The Dark Secret Behind Mr. Sy’s Casino of Fun

Posted on: September 11, 2024, 12:03h. 

Last updated on: September 11, 2024, 10:25h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

Never has a gambling hall been more inaccurately named than Mr. Sy’s Casino of Fun. Fun just wasn’t 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.

Mr. Sy’s Casino of Fun, shown in 1977, was located in the Fashion Square Shopping Center (now called the Las Vegas Plaza Shopping Center) across from the Stardust at 3061 S. Las Vegas Blvd. (Image: Joel Rosales Collection, Las Vegas Casino Museum)

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, a Brooklyn-born businessman who got the money to open his 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 who played his slots with house money and who 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.

An original Mr. Sy’s “funbook” makes its predatory promises. (Image: eBay)

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.

Seymore Husney is perp-walked into the courtroom as he is interviewed by a TV reporter. (Image: KSNV-TV/Las Vegas)

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 no 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.

Except one. Findagrave.com lists him as having died on June 10, 2004 at age 75.  He’s buried in Culver City, Calif.

The former Mr. Sy’s storefront became Big Red’s Casino (1981-82), Peppermill Casino (1982-89), Dan’s Royal Flush (1991-96), CBS Sports World Casino (1997-98), and then just Sports World (1998-2002) when the TV network threatened action. For the past few years, it’s been a 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.