Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-08-10
THEY REDUCE THE SHOW FOR THE
PLAYER TO NEARLY NOTHING.

How Things Are Done at the Great Gam
bling Establishment-A System Which
Leaves Little to Chance and Balks Too
Much Good Luck.
Tho police of Monte Carlo are 50 admira-
bly, organized that few hours after any
body's arrival the name Of the visitor Is
Rlready reported to the administration Of
the cercle, with Of course the address and
various details, such as the amount Of lug
gage, the appearance, the price Of the room
or pension taken, etc. These details are
all Important to the Inspector du vatique
"a venerable looking old scoundrel whose
duty 1t Is to repatriate broken down gam
blers. Anybody who has lost every penny
he brought with him can on application
either recover 10 per cent Of his losses or,
II the sum is small, his railway fare to the
extent Of from "a to e6 Is paid. This last
Is called the viatique and is given against
O regular o U, which has to be refundep
before the recipient con be admitted again
to the gambling house. Wemay mention,
en- PEASANT, that no less than R40, 900 Is
distributed In this guise every year and
that no less than ESQ, 900 Is actually paid
back.
The information Of the police In and out
side the building Ia so precise that 1t Is no
use for anybody to pretend to have lost
FL, 900 II he has lost only ESQ. The state
ment is accepted with great politeness, only
one Is asked to walk along the rooms with
an inspector and then to wait awhile. Ere
long the inspector will return and tell you
not only how much, more or less, you have
lost, but he will tell you what your game
was-single or multiple chances, mar
tingale" or at random-and If you protest
he will add yet some more information,
such as, You have no luggage; you dine
at cheap places" or, You live at a cheap
pension" etc. The above only goes to
prove how carefully everything and every
body Is watched-the walters, the hotel
proprietors, the railway officials and the
croupiers living at boarding houses all
send In tho results Of their observations
every day.
Now, as to the precautions against OBJ
stinate good luck for punters- The first Is
In the fact that the gambling house is a
cercle, a club, to which admittance Is
gained on presenting q card issued by the
administration for one day only. This
card has to be personally renewed every
day and nothing Is easier than to refuse
this to too persistent winner. No reason
is vouchsafed for the refusal, and the staff
Of "chuckers out' within easy reach looks
too convincing to attempt intrusion or ar
guments. Should the Objectionable punter
be too big game for such a summary pro-
ceeding there Is quite an army of agents
provocateurs, both men and women,
around each table, and they, according to
instructions, pick up quarrel with tho
lucky player-generally over a stake-a
row ensues, both parties are chucked out
and then the inspector explains that the
rule Of tho eercle Is not to admit again
those who make O disturbance and spoil
the partie. determinations are useless,
and as whatever law or justice there is at
Monte Carlo is in the hands Of the 80
ciete des Bains dc Mer' Just as Is the
police, there is neither protection nor ap-
peal.
1t must, however, be explained here that
these extreme measures apply only to sue
cessful ''martlngalistes "-system players
or to lightning" punters- gamblers
who come every day for few minutes,
stake three times some maximums, win
by some remarkable fluke and go away.
These are the most hated, If only because
Of the superstition as to playing sur la tete
du ponte-that Is, following en- masse the
stakes Of lucky player. There have been
cases where successive banks have been
broken thus. A roulette bank starts gen.
orally with from 92, 900 to 93, 900, accord
ing to season, and the bank Is considered
broken when this sum Is lost Very often
when the bank has been broken twice in
succession the play Is stopped at this par
ticular table and the roulette taken away
another proof Of the precautions re-
ferred to and as patent instance that the
administration does not believe in the pos
sibility Of pure chance. 1t is either the
roulette or the croupier that must be out
Of gear.
AS q matter Of fact, a croupier does get
out of gear because after O certain time, 10
to 80 minutes, he sets the disk movingand
the ball rolling with the same swing, SO to
say, and the result is that the ball will fall
time after time into the same section of
the disk. The consequences Of this phe-
nomenon have been more than once disas-
trous on the bank In years past hence
croupiers are changed every half hour, or
each 80 coups are made by fresh hand.
Some 800 coups are played daily at each
table. AS further proof that the hand
can acquire certain dynamic monotony,
If one may use the expression, and high
evenness Of impulse may be cited the fact
that at the croupiers' school at the Con-
damnine there is daily practice Of ''aim-
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