Gaming pioneer Exber, 78, dies

Monday, May 13, 2002 | 10:52 a.m.

The two words that perhaps best described longtime Las Vegas Club owner and President Mel Exber were gambler and giver.

The innovative sports handicapper, who introduced the teaser football card nearly half a century ago, gambled and gave even at times when he did not have a lot of money to do either.

As a struggling sports book ticket writer in 1951, earning $15 a shift, Exber gave a $10 donation to Father Flanagan's Boys Town.

"That weekend, I placed seven bets and won all seven games," Exber told the Sun in 1995. "Ever since then I have found that every time I give to charity it comes back to me doubled or threefold or more."

Mel Exber, a protege of legendary gambler Nick "The Greek" Dandolos and a pioneering casino boss, died Saturday at Nathan Adelson Hospice of complications following a stroke. He was 78.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 55 years will be 10 a.m. Tuesday at Temple Beth Sholom. Burial will follow in Palm Memorial Park, downtown. King David Memorial Chapel & Cemetery, 2697 Eldorado Lane, is handling arrangements.

As a sports book operator, Exber also innovated the 1 1/2- and two-run line for baseball wagers, which is still used at the Las Vegas Club. The football teaser card that Exber invented in the early 1950s today is a staple of the sports betting industry.

"There was no better capable guy in the business and no better person in Las Vegas than Mel Exber," said friend and longtime business partner Jackie Gaughan, owner of the El Cortez and Plaza and part owner of the Las Vegas Club and other properties.

Brady Exber, vice president of the Las Vegas Club, said his father "was an all-around citizen."

Born Oct. 3, 1923, in Brooklyn, Exber started gambling at age 10. He placed his first bet with boyhood friend Jimmy Sabellico on June 14, 1934, wagering a nickel that heavyweight boxing contender Max Baer would defeat then-world champion Primo Carnera. Baer scored an 11th-round technical knockout.

Exber served as a mechanic in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and after amassing a sizable bankroll playing craps and poker, Mel and his late brother, Jerry Exber, hopped in their brand-new Mercury in 1947 and headed to California to make their fortune.

They stopped in Las Vegas, where in one week they lost their $3,000 savings, sold their car and decided to stay and try to win their money back.

Exber reluctantly took a job at the old Las Vegas Club on Fremont Street, where he was befriended by Dandolos.

"I don't really know why he took a liking to me, but he did," Exber said of Dandolos, who died in 1966. "I was in awe of this man because of all of the stories I had heard about him."

Little did Exber realize that he too would become a legend in the industry.

In 1953, after working at the Desert Inn, Golden Nugget and Pioneer Club, Exber opened the Saratoga Sports Book on South First Street with Gaughan. In 1960 Exber bought the Las Vegas Club and a year later moved it across the street to its present location at Fremont and Main streets.

But all did not go smoothly for Exber, who in the early 1960s went on one of his longest losing streaks. Desperate for a win, he put a huge wager on the San Francisco 49ers, who were about a touchdown underdog to the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 25, 1964.

With the 49ers down 27-17 in the fourth quarter, all seemed lost for Exber, who went out for a walk. Moments later Viking lineman Jim Marshall recovered a fumble and, in one of the game's greatest blunders, ran it 66 yards the wrong way to score the longest safety in NFL history. The Vikings went on to win by just five points and Exber won the bet that turned around his gambling career.

Exber, who also owned interests in the El Cortez, Plaza, Club Bingo, Western, Nevada, Gold Spike and Barbary Coast, offered the most liberal rules for blackjack at the Las Vegas Club.

In the early 1980s Exber opened the Las Vegas Club's sports book. During the 1987 NFL strike, he was one of the first oddsmakers to post lines on the games played by replacement players.

As a civic leader Exber served as general campaign chairman for the Las Vegas Combined Jewish Appeal in the 1970s and served five consecutive terms as president of Temple Beth Sholom. He was past state chairman of the Nevada Committee for Employment Support of the National Guard and Reserve and was a past member of Board of Trustees for St. Jude's Ranch for Children.

Exber was a member of the Nevada Resort Association, serving its president in 1978-79, and was a member of the Downtown Progress Association, the Masons and the Shriners.

In 1996 Exber was given just six months to live after a tumor was discovered in his brain. Although an operation revealed the tumor was benign, Exber never fully recovered.

In addition to his son, Exber is survived by his wife, Doris Exber; a daughter, Laurie Alexander; a brother, Marty Exber; and two grandchildren, Samantha Alexander and Jordan Exber, all of Las Vegas.

The family suggests donations in Exber's memory to Temple Beth Sholom, 10700 Havenwood Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89135 or St. Jude's Ranch for Children Inc., 100 St. Jude, Boulder City, NV 89005.