Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1872-06-06
Gambling as n Science.


Casual aud amateur bettcrs at the spas
play at random, without theory or calcula,
ton of any kind; but the habitual and
professional gamesters always have sys-
tens, by which they confidently expect
some time o: other, to break the bank.
have been told of men, and women too
indeed, who have been going to Baden OF
Wicsbaden for ten, twelve and fifteen gears
with that avowed purpose, and yet the
sole financial injury they have wrought
has been to themselves. Their i'll luck, as
they term it, does not, however, mar theiI
faith in systems. These they hold to be
unquestionably couect-the fault is either
in their understanding or in their malig.
nant stars.
The principal talacy in respect to systems
is that chance is subject to law, extremely
subtitle, but discoverable il diligently and
earnestly investigated. The mind of a
thorough gamester can never be dlsabused
of this notion. He cleaves to it after years
Of experience to the contrary as he did at
the outset. Come what may, he will hold
that the blind goddess has vision enough
to read the pages of the volume of logic
which he is persuaded she carries concealed
in the folds Of hcr robe.
One Of the simplest and most plausible
systems or theories is to begin with a
small stake, and keep doubling it until it
wins. There are three bars to the success
of this plan: first, the vast amount Of
money required to carry it out; secondly,
the limitation as to minimum and maximum
Of the take; and thirdly, the percentage
Of the bank (no amount of prudence, auda-
city, or calculation can overcome this), by
which, when the little ball at roulette
drops into zero, or the refait is made at
trente-c t-quarante, all the bcttcrs, on
whatever side, lose their wagers.
Few persons without actual computation,
have any idea to what an enormous sum
the doubling process will soon swell. Let
any one, for example, begin at roulette
with the smallest stake allowed, one form
and let him lose, as not infrCquently
happens, twenty times in succession ; his
last bet must be 524,2SS forins-about
S2l0,000-an amount very few men have
at hand to devote to the purpose Of play.
AT trente-et-quarante the sum needed,
beginning with the lowest stake, two
forms, for the twentieth doubling bet
would be 1,04S,57G tlorins-say $4,000
Besides long before the player arrived at
his twentieth stake he would have exceed
cd the limit of the bank and be forced to
return to his original bet, losing four or
five thousand ilorins in the desperate at
tempt to win one--a species of political
economy not likely to he taught or follow
ed outside of mad.housc Another
theory of the frequenters of the gaming
tables is that chances are governed by the
doctrine Of probabllities-in other words,
that number or color which has lost fora
long time must soon begin to win. If this
could be tested for a century or two it
might be proved correct But confined to
a limited period, it turns out very iallacious.
have known men who betted persistently
CD black in the evening, because red
had had such an extraordinary run Of luck
during the day and yet when the bank
closed they had no more forms than the
players who had stubbornly adhered to the
red.-Junius Henri Brovne.