If Kenny Rogers had anyone in mind when he recorded “The Gambler,” it would have been none other than Las Vegas legend Billy Baxter.
The winner of seven World Series of Poker championships, Baxter was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006, and on Aug. 11 he was inducted into the Gambling Hall of Fame. Beloved for his wit and Southern charm, Baxter says he has never followed a formula to win, rather he plays “by the seat of my britches.”
However, Baxter’s rise to the top was not without pitfalls. He faced arrest, had his fourth Amendment rights brazenly violated, narrowly avoided going to federal prison and launched a lawsuit that forever changed and helped legitimize professional gambling.
Baxter is a gamer of the old school variety, and it all began when he was just a lad of 14 in the year 1954, right here in Augusta.
According to Baxter, that summer his mother, an insurance agent, wanted him to work, so he would spend his mornings setting up appointments for his mother. In the afternoon, she would drop him off on Broad Street, thinking he was going to watch a movie; instead, Baxter would head down to the Shamrock pool hall where he would use his earnings to place bets.
“When my mom found out, she was furious! She threatened to put the owner out of business,” Baxter said.
That experience taught him a crucial lesson about dealing with authority figures; stay under the radar and you will be just fine…most of the time, that is.
By the time Baxter finished high school, he had netted $5,000 in pool hustling, which is $44,000 in today’s money.
Baxter also participated in “The Bug,” a gambling scheme run by Johnney Marcus, who made books on the daily fluctuations of the stock market.
“It was Augusta’s first lottery. All you had to do was pick numbers and then see if they showed up in the daily newspaper’s stock market report,” Baxter said.
When he was legally able to enter bars, Baxter discovered he had a talent at the game of poker and a legend was born.
Baxter made a name for himself in local gambling circles and managed to avoid being caught. Prior to the crackdowns of the 1970s, Augusta had carried on much as it did during Prohibition when the authorities mostly turned a blind eye to the blue laws.
Baxter started the private Paisley Supper Club on East Boundary, away from the neon lights of Broad Street. Baxter says the club attracted the creme-de-la-creme of Augusta society.
“Sure, it was frowned upon, but this was a high-end, coat and tie establishment. Men brought their wives, and we served some of the best food in town,” Baxter said.
It didn’t hurt that Sheriff George Mutimer defied Gov. Lester Maddox’s order to crack down on gambling in Augusta. However, the luck would run out when Mutimer died of a sudden heart attack in 1967 and all bets were off.
The new Sheriff, “Foots” Atkins, promised to curb illegal gambling and set his sights on Baxter.
“He was nice about it and gave me a two day heads-up to shut the club down before he acted, so we shut the club down,” Baxter said.
However, the luck would run out in 1973.
Baxter let his guard down and was arrested for gambling openly during Masters Week. In fact, the raid on the Alpine Lounge on Broad Street snared some rather prominent people, including a famous NFL player, leaving local law enforcement with a quandary.
It was decided to release the out-of-town Masters guests to avoid an international scandal, but Baxter, after spending a week honeymooning in Hawaii, was sentenced to a year in jail.
“They let me stay in the county lock-up, and they treated me just fine. They let me out briefly to go to the hospital when my first child was born,” Baxter recalled.
Upon release, Baxter decided to relocate to Las Vegas, where gambling was legal, and almost immediately struck gold, affording him the luxury of retiring at the age of 45. Baxter returned to Augusta later and found himself bored, which led to another run-in with the law in 1992, and this time it was the FBI.
The FBI raided the Discotheque Lounge on Broad Street and carried out boxes upon boxes of evidence, an undisclosed amount of cash and even confiscated the famous Snake Lady’s snakes.
The snakes were later returned unharmed.
Unbeknownst to Baxter, the FBI had been wire-tapping him and a score of others before they made their move.
“This wasn’t some high-stakes gambling operation or organized crime or anything like that. I was just looking for something fun to do,” Baxter said.
Facing federal prison, Baxter had one final ace up his sleeve.
Once the case went to court, it was argued that the FBI had applied for the wire-tap warrants under false pretenses. Judge Dudley Bowen excoriated the prosecutors and tossed out the case faster than a revved up deuce.
“This evidence is the fruit of the poisoned tree,” Bowen said in court. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t bring any more gambling cases before my court.”
Baxter wisely beat it back to Las Vegas.
While the Augusta gambling and bookmaking case was high-stakes for Baxter, it was another federal case that would add to his notoriety and endear him to the professional gambling community.
Prior to 1986, money made off of gambling was considered “unearned income” and had generally been taxed at a rate of 50%; however, when that percentage rose to 70%, Baxter had had enough and filed suit against the IRS.
According to court records, Baxter argued that gambling was his profession, his job, and therefore, his winnings were actually earnings. The court agreed and from that day since, professional gamblers have been subject to the same tax rates and afforded deductions just like any other small businessperson.
At age 82, Baxter is retired pretty much in name only. He still loves the excitement of knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Recently, Baxter hauled in almost $485,000 at the Seniors Poker World Championship.
…And that is something you may not have known.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
