Evening star., 1898-02-21
GAMBLING ACROSS THE RIVER.
One Who Has Tried 1t Gives His Ex-
perience.

perience.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
In regard to the article in Fridays Star.
telling about the experience of your re-
porter among the gambling saloons on the
Virginia side of the river, just across the
bridge from Georgetown, 1 would like to
speak little more definitely on the evils
of these places. All gambling is demoral-
izing. and one who insists on keeping 1t
up will eventually die pauper, but man
who goes against regular tiger Will
experience pauperism much sooner The
games a man will find across the river
from Georgetown are, as stated in your
article, keno, crap, poker, roulette and
faro. and still another game, called
| hazard which certainly deserves its
name.
The older set of men who frequent these
| resorts play keno or faro. In the former
game each player deposits ten cents with
the bank which entities him to card.
The banker then proceeds to register each
card. all Of which contain five rows of
numbers. After this is done the game
| begins by the clerk calling out numbers
from revolving disc, and continues to
call them out until some lucky man has
covered horizontal line of corresponding
numbers on his card with dirty suspender
buttons, and Immediately yells out,
"Keno.' The winner is then given the
pot, which consists of ten cents from
each player. and generally amounts to
from IS to S1j, less 10 per cent commits
sion. which goes to the bank. then the
game begins again, the bank making 100
per cent every ten games, or about every
half hour. Most men who play this game
think it perfectly square, but just let them
notice how many employees of the estab-
lishment join in the game, also let them
see how many times these employees rake
in a pot and then they may try another
game. The bankers being the judge. moth
ing is said, and not once in thousand
times is winning card 'challenged.'
Now. faro is square game. with the
exception of the banker having an ad-
vantage of about per cent which is
based on the fact that any man making a
bet has the disadvantage of doing the
guessing, and the other reasons are too
long to explain. The older men play faro
in preference to other games. because
they depend on their knowledge of the
game. and really have a better chance of
winning.
The crap game. one will notice. is sup
ported by the less experienced patrons,
and especially by the younger men who
frequent such places. and they nearly al
ways lose. They may win at first, but
in trying to make a small fortune at once
they will increase the amount of their bets
ten times in excited moments, and lose in
five minutes all that It has taken them
hours to win, besides losing the amount
they brought with them to Invest. The
dice. being handled entirely by the play
ers in this game. they think, of course.
there is no crooked business for that rea-
son. but just let them take a rock and
split one open, ard then their eyes will
also be opened to shameful fraud. AS
soon as the player catches on to the way
the dice are turning he will try to take
advantage of it. only to be fooled by the
hawk-eyed banker, who will, almost by
sleight of hand. produce another set of
dice right before his eyes and not be de-
tected This is usually done when the
banker holds the dice while settling bets.
All the other games are more or less
crooked, and it is a fact that the operator
of a roulette wheel can make any number
win that he chooses, yet the enthusiasts
do not know this until they come home
again. and again broke" Many man
have I seen who has gone up to these
gambling dives with two weeks salary,
that Uncle Sam has paid him for serv-
ices in the departments, and come home
without even car fare. l might mention
that it is long way from the foot of 32d
street to the homes of some of the patrons.
Gambling in itself is bad enough. but
gambling where you are virtually robbed
is too much / have come down on the
boat that takes the passengers to and
from HoltZmans old landing. and many a
time have heard many a man say: What
fools we all are to play these games up
here. You can bet your life this is my
last trip But I always see them the
next time / go. 1t has cost me lot of
money and lots of remorse to learn that
there is nothing to be gained. but lots to
lose, DS playing the games already men,
toned What not let some other boys
abide by my experience? There are few
men who manage to win a few dollars on
the results of the races, which are tele-
graphed to a pool room between here and
Alexandria, and these same men, instead
of going home satisfied. will transfer on
the electric cars to Rosslyn. and visit a
gambling dive and virtually give the pro-
rrietor their winnings. by playing an ever
losing game. Just let a man notice the
different looks between the regular patrons
and proprietors of these resorts. The
former is apt to look like a vagrant, while
the latter wears fine clothes and diamonds
galore.
These places are raided about twice a
year but 1t amounts to nothing. 1t is only
done to bluff the higher authorities and
make them think the local authorities are
doing their duty. When a raid does occur
the proprietors of the gaming houses are
notified in ample time, and all business is
closed, and the patrons are told to come
back later, or next Sunday" and every
thing will be going again. Consequently
there is prosecution except In rare
cases. This goes to show what money will
buy. l am not much on writing an article,
this being my first attempt, but l do 1T to
try and keep other boys from degrading
themselves and losing all their friends
who are worth calling friends. l certainly
would be better off today myself if some
one had only explained things a little to
me as they really are, in time. but / went
with the wrong set and was only urged on.
l know a thing or two now, though and
will keep away from little "shell'' games,
and still l am only kid. A man who
could write a good article on this matter
would not likely be a man who goes often
enough to these low dives to learn By eX-
perience, which is such a good teacher.
These clerks at the gambling dens throw
dice and shuttle cards so much that after
while. they get them almost under per-
feet control, and it is a hard thing to beat
a nan at his own game.
Drinking leads to gambling, and gam
bling Is sure road to destruction, not
because preachers and sanity people say
so, but 1t is because gambling gets to be q
passion, and you can guess the rest. Let
men take care of themselves, but 1 hope
some mislead boys will abide by my ex-
perience- Some people may think young
boys know nothing of these places, but if
they didn't, / know of a few dives that
would b. bankrupt in a short while. Hop
ing you will see fit to give this place in
your paper, even If it isn'st well written. ]
am A REFORMED SUBSCRIBER
February 10, 1893.