The Casino Records label started in 1957 with a single of Jerry Dyke singing two songs written by Bob Bobo and Carl Lewis for Southern Belle, BMI, “Deep Within My Heart” and “My Empty Heart”. That release, Casino 1001/1002 had a gothic style font for Casino and an address on McGavock St. in Nashville, Tennessee.

In a comment on the Rockin’ Continentals page, Jerry Dyke notes that he designed the original Casino label.

An article in the Emporia Gazette from February 1958 discusses how Jerry Dyke was the stage name for Gerald Dyche, a student from Topeka who was singing songs written by Topekan disc jockey Bob Bobo for demos to be sent to Southern Belle publishing in Nashville, which led to the Casino single, presumably recorded in Nashville. Although the article makes something of the Casino Recording Corporation of Nashville, Bob Bobo and Carl Lewis were at least part owners of Casino. They produced the Jerry Dyke single on their own hoping for attention for their song writing.

Bobo seems to have recorded all the Casino records in the basement of his house on SE Ohio Street.

Dyke does not seem to have worked with Bobo after this single. Bobo started working with Ronnie Pearson of Osage City. Pearson’s first single on the Herald Label in April of ’57 included Bob Bobo’s song “Hot Shot”.

Bobo would place other songs in the late ’50s, including “I Close My Eyes” (co-written with Lewis) for the Wilburn Brothers on Decca in August of ’57, “The Answer” and “Warm as Toast” (co-written by Lewis) for Russ Veers on the Trend label, and “Let Me Go to the Hop” (co-written by Russ Veers) by the Sweethearts on Power.

By the early 1960s, Bobo seems to have stopped pursuing a career as a song writer, but kept the Casino label active. I don’t know what Casino 1003/1004 is, but 1005/1006 is the Nubbins doing two standards, “The King’s Highway” / “Stormy Weather” with a different font for the logo and no address.

The Rockin’ Continentals “The ‘309’” from 1962 is numbered 1007/1008. This and all future release feature Kansan artists; there is no longer any Nashville connection that I know of.

Casino 1001/1002 – Jerry Dyke – “Deep Within My Heart” / “My Empty Heart”
Casino 1003/1004 – no release (?)
Casino 1005/1006 – The Nubbins – “The King’s Highway” / “Stormy Weather”
Casino 1007/1008 – The Rockin’ Continentals – “The ‘309’” / “2-3-4”
Casino 1009/1010 – The Rockin’ Continentals – “Cobra 284” / “Count Dracula”
Casino 1011/1012 – The Argons “Spiked” (Bryson, Myers) / “Do The Dog” (Mikkelsen, Wilcox) 1964
Casino 1321/1322 – The Jerms – “That Word” (G. Senogles) / “Love Light” (Sept. 1965)
Casino 2305/2306 – The Thingies – “It’s a Long Way Down” (L. Miller, Dalton) / “Merry Go Round of Life” (August 1966)

One interesting oddity about the Casino discography is that the RCA code for the Jerry Dyke single, HO8W-0066/67 would be adapted for later releases, even though most later releases were not pressed at RCA but at Wakefield Manufacturing in Phoenix, AZ. Another code on the 45s, 2 AFM also increases with each release, though I’m not sure the meaning of that code.

Bobo also owned a restaurant called Bobo’s Drive In in Topeka from 1948 until he passed away sometime in the 1980s. Bobo’s Drive In remained open under that name until recently.

I want to thank the discussion of Casino on 45Cat, which gave me some leads to follow up and confirm.

Both Rockin’ Continental releases have been bootlegged, along with another Casino release, the Argons’ “Do the Dog”.