The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-24
GAMBLING BY MACHINES
Slot Devices Are Just Now in Vogue
for Gambling Purposes.
From the Syracuse Standard.

AoF UumDIInS purposes.
From the Syracuse Standard.
1t was four years ago that the penny
poker player had its vogue No saloon.
cigar store or barber shop was up to date
without one of those nickel-plated boxes
on a pedestal, window In front showing
hVe cards in a row, a penny in the slot
and thumb on the lever and the cards
whirled around. If you drew Jacks up
you got a cigar and if you did better than
jacks up you reaped reward commensu-
rate with the value of your poker hand
Those machines were played so hard that
Uncle Sam had to keep men at work over
time making pennies to be fed to Lhem
Cigar stores came into sharp competition
by Offering prizes for the highest throw
of the day and week. And then the police
took a hand
These little machines have been assets
of many saloons and cigar stores ever
since, but they have generally been mark
ed for sa1e'-for the purposes of self
protection-and the business they have
done has never reached what it was during
that era few years ago. Within the past
three months, however, there has grown
into popularity a whole brood of new slot
devices. Not all, but a majority of these
are gambling machines, for the test has
shown that the gambling machines nay
better and retain their popularity longer
than the others. The penny poker play
er" has lost its hold on the affections of
the tickle public from competition with the
nickel devices that pay big money when
you win.
The favorite just at present is the Klon-
dixie machine, san~ affair about five feet
high, with five slots for nickels. circle
which revolves when the nickel is dropped
in has strips of red, black, green, white
and yellow, in such proportion, of course,
that no matter which you play in the long
run you get beaten. Black and red each
pay 10 cents to the winner, green %, white
so, and yellow 81. There are number Of
these machines in town, and they are
taking in hundreds of dollars daily, paying
out of course a good big fraction of what
is taken in, but winning for the house reg
ularly.
The Little Monte Carlo machine is a
box about eight inches square, convenient
size to rest on the bar. A nickel in the
slot revolves the circle which is pivoted be-
low the glass and il pays 2 to l for black
and red, 5 for l, 10 for l, and 20 for for
others. There are other devices which are
generally similar to the one or the other
of these mentioned.
line NICKEL QSN2CSS tIldt are nOl lOI gam
bling are generally musical There are two
forms of music boxes in general use, one
in which a circular, perforated sheet is put
into a case, and a penny starts it moving
and makes the music The other is an
ordinary music box so arranged that a
nickel sets il going. But the newest and
Just at present most popular musical de-
vice is the banjo, standing in glass case,
steel teeth extending from the sides over
the strings and made to play popular
tune when a nickel is put in. These ban
jos have been put into several saloons in
Syracuse.
The nickel-in-the-slot. kaleidoscope has
not come into general use. A nickel-in-
the-slot machine which shows series of
views supposed to have general interest to
men is now on trial in few Syracuse sa-
looms. Besides the machines mentioned,
there are a number of others, but those
mentioned are the vogue just at present.
The machines are not generally sold, but
nut into the saloons by The company hold
ing the patent, whose local agent collects
q. certain percentage of the receipts daily.
with the newest of these devices this Is
the usual procedure, though those that
have been before the public some time are
usually sold or rented