Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-02-11
THE WHEELING REGISTER FRIDAY MORNING. FEBRUARY
A LITTLE GAME.
Gambling at Monte Carlo in
Monaco.

Belgrayis.
There are altogether some ten or
twelve tables in the two gambling-rooms
at Monte Carlo. IL you have never seen
a roulette-table before, say at Homoourg
or Baden-Baden, in the old days, you
will be some time before you can discov-
err on what principle the money is iost
and won. All You will see at hrst Is q
number Of long tables, each surrounded
by rows of well dressed men and better
dressed women three files deep, and
each covered by heaps ofgold and notes,
scattered about mysteriously on certain
cabalistic' numbers, squares and uia-
monds; the larger part OF when the
croupier rakes in with small wooden
cue, after each turn OF the roulette
wheel. But after while you will see
that the game is simple enouSn, all Oh
its complexity depending upon the
variety Of ways in which you may stake
YOUR money. The roulette-w heel con,
iains q small pea, which may Jump out
into any one OF 81 compartments num-
bered from zero to Sc, respectively.
Moreover, each alternate number Is
culorad red or white. On the table are
SO numbered squares, from to 80. You
NAV. if YOU like, simply put your money
on red or on black, in which case, iyou
win. YOU receive Just the amount you
riskcd. Or you may stake on any one
of the numbers separately, say ~; IN
which case the winner pockets 80 times
his stake. Or, again, you may BACK any
one OF four numbers, by putting yonr
coin on the angles where they meet land
then, il any of the four are successful,
YOU win twice what you risk. or, ma
Is, YOU may back any one row oil Twelve
figures against the other two rows. In
every case the amount OF your winnings
depends upon the number oil chances
against YOU. OF course, when zero
turns up, everybody loses, and the 6auk
makes a haul. Otherwise 1t stands 10
lose or win merely the difference be-
tween its takings and its payments,
which are on the average about equal
In other words, the bank wins IN the
long run about one haul to the good out
OF every thirty .seven. Not eau per.
centage, either, considering the vast
sums Of money always on the table. Al
roulette the minimum SUN IS oil; the
maximum is 6,OOOi. Trenteet.quarante,
A more aristocratic game, is only played
for gold, the smallest allowable stake
being napoleon. AT both games the
regular PLAYERS. who come early on pur-
nose. have chairs to accommodate them
around the tables. There they sit with
large rolls of gold on the tables before
them, ma, king down with dot the
winning colors or numbers, and stalking
their 20 or 80 napoleons on every turn.
Ladies predominant among the regular
gamblers, many Of them young and
pretty, though not all Of them, fancy,
strictly correct in their ways. Many
people speak Of the eagerness depicted
on evely face, the anxious look, the OBJ
yious despair; but cannot say l have
noticed ANYTHING OF the sort. What
strikes me rather is the stolid lndiffer-
ence with which every one oil them,
men and women alike, seems to win or
lose a couple of hundred pounds or so
on each throw of the pea as though 1t
did not in the least matter to them
whether they or the bank took up the
money. | think they are mostly rich
and base people, who can afford to
throw away thousands, and who throw
them ayav carelesslb Tor the sake oil the
small modicum OF excitement which the
uncertainty yields to their jaded palates.
You must remember that since HON.
bOurg and Baden Eaden were suppress
ed. Monaco concentrates upon itself the
whole gambling strength OF Europe.