The Gambling Industry in the US – Back to the 80’s

Wheel of Fortune, Las Vegas, 1988

Jay Wolke was fascinated by the intersections of people, artifice, architecture and landscape in the US’s three gambling cities.

All photos: Jay Wolke/Kehrer Verlag publications

Little White Chapel, Valentine’s Day, Las Vegas, 1987

Fortune Hunter, Las Vegas, 1988

Wolke’s interest lay in the ordinary people who worked in and around the casinos. His photographs expose the cities’ symbols of desire alongside the realities of uncertainties and deception.

Valet Pickup, Las Vegas, 1992

Its accelerating influx of gamblers, together with the hundreds of thousands of workers needed to build and staff all the new hotels and casinos had made Las Vegas the fastest growing city in America.