Morning journal and courier., 1885-10-01
GAMBLING AS A SCIENCE.
How Some Men M ike Good Living at the Green Table While Others Fail.

How Some Men M ike 8 Good Living
 at the Green Table While Others
 Fail.
 From the New York Times.1
 ''Gambling is scientific profession found ed upon the foibles of mankind" astutely remarked "one of them" to reporter the other day as the two were seated in the main room ssof watering place gambling resort, and as the reporter glanced down the vista of Turkish carpets and frescoed cell ings, of rich draperies and costly furnishings, and saw the obsequious servants laden with ztheir viands and expensive wines gliding to and fro at the beck of the players, the thought obtruded that if all this elegance and luxury were the superstructure the foibles of mankind made rather a satisfactory bed rock.
 s'Yes," went on the card diplomat, Git is a truism to state that the successful gambler must be a close student of human nature. Of course he must, for his whole business is an evolution, simple and direct, of certain phases of human nature. Why, the other day, while running down to New York on the 'speciap from here, I heard two or three rich old Jews talking about this very place. One of them was complaining that he had left $2, 900 to enrich the house.
 'F'Oh!' said another, spreading out his pudgy hands, T left more than that, much more,' with chuckle. But what do you expect, man? We must have our pleasure.
 ''And there is just the keynote of the whole thing. There is large class of men who find their pleasure at the gambling table alone, and it is this class which sup ports it. No other form of dissipation so panders to certain natures as game of chance, and these make and maintain the bank.
 ''There goes a man now," he continued passing into the restaurant, who is fair type of the bone and sinew of these places. He does not come often but with fair regu- larity. He was in ten days ago and made g night of it. I took cocktail with him just before breakfast. He had lost but $6O, but had sacrificed sleep, and would waste the coming day in making it up, yet he confessed with entire honesty to having had a fine nights sport. He often leaves $500 behind him, rarely wins, but he can afford it, or thinks he can, and counts it only paying for pleasure
 ''Of course others than these find their way into this and similar places, but they are comparatively few. Men come to retrieve fortunes lost in natural channels, to drown grief or disappointment, &c., but not in the numbers that come to indulge in the, to them, pleasurable rack of suspense, the pain of loss and the always to be hoped for flush of victory"
 ''I suppose then,'' observed the reporter, quietly, "that when a man shoots himself through the head in a gambling den the pleasurable pain of loss has probably been little severe?"
 ''It is possible" was the reply, ignoring the sarcasm. Nothing annoys proprietor more than tragedy. He will take any meas ure to keep such emotional, high-strung temperaments from his rooms. If all the sentimental and sensational story book ire quenters of these places were eliminated the bank would scarcely notice their absence. They are not the bone and sinew of the gam bling harvest. It is the great majority of average commonplace men that yields the profits"
 Undoubtedly, assented the reporter, re- fecting that the average commonplace man helps along most of the stupendous move ments of the worlds machinery. Then, not eager to discuss the moral ethics of gambling, a more practical question was put.
 ''Can you tell me what is the real percent age of risk the bank possesses against the players"
 ''Well," was the reply, ''the apparant per centage is small and varies in the several different rates-but the real percentage is enormously in the banks favor. It lies in this same principle of human nature that l have just commented upon. The average player if he wins several successive bets be- comes cautious, anticipates change in luck, and ventures his money accordingly. The result is if his good fortune continues his winnings are small and unimportant. On the other. hand, let him lose continuously and he becomes excited He loses his head and, pursuing the same line of argument that it is long lane which has no turning, he increases his stakes. The policy, with continued misfortune, ends in large losses. Thus, when the bank is loser it is for small sums, but when winning the gains are large.
 What the bank is afraid of are the con servative, persistent players, but there are not many of them. There is class of men at the European gambling places, and very small class, who have reduced the thing to fine point. These men risk every evening a single bet, always the same amount. If the bet wins they continue to play, but only so long as their profits will permit. If, how ever, the first venture fails they quit the table until the following evening. In this way their loss is limited to the original bet, while if fortune favors them they may win a large amount. This policy is pursued daily, and single nights winnings will often furnish capital enough for a long period of bad luck. These men do not enjoy gambling, but it supports them, and I have no doubt that they accumulate valuable statistics in the rstio and proportion of games of chance. They are detested by the officials of the place, but their right to play as they please cannot be questioned"
 s'But if this be a fact" said the reporter, ''why is not the practice more universally
 "Because," was the emphatic response, ftno one man in thousand possesses the requisite characteristics to so control himself under the spur of such excitement as the gaming table can offer."
 ''Do professional gamblers, rule, al ways have money."
 ''The average professional gambler" was the reply, lis dead broke nine months out of the twelve"