 Dick Smothers character, Senator, is partly based on Nevada Senator  Harry Reid, who was chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. The  scene in which Sam Rothstein is denied a license by the Nevada  Gaming Commission is based on a December 1978 hearing when Harry  Reid was the commissions chairman; some of Reids statements are  used in Smothers dialogue. The scene was shot in an actual  courtroom in the Clark County Courthouse, which was later closed in  2005.