Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-23
T.
z-e-d
y
What Fate Has in Store if Gambling
is Prohibited.
MONTE CARLOS FORMIDABLE RIVAL
French Cities Will Profit by Re-
form in Belgium.
G S1NOS' BIG PROFITS
CASINOS BIG PROFITS

Written for The Evening Star.
Shrewd and thrifty and sporty King Leo
pold of Belgium has seen somewhat the
same sort of handwriting on the wall that
Belshazzar saw. He personally may not
have been weighed in the balance and found
wanting, but the great gambling tables in
Belgium have been, and fraction of every
franc bet thereon-in Ostend, at least-ulti-
mately found it's roundabout way into the
kings deep pockets.
Belgium has come to the conclusion, after
long and rather bitter experience, that
gaming tables pay no one except the pro-
prietor Hence the passage Of a stringent
law that is of more public interest than
has generally been supposed, for it means
that the greatest gambling hell Of our, gen.
Grafton has come to the end Of it's rope
and that one Of the most prosperous cities
in Europe is In danger of collapse
Far Ahead of Monte Carlo.
One usually thinks first Of Monte Carlo
in connection with continental gambling,
but as matter of fact the beautiful Ri
viera resort has been, for the last few
years, only an amateur beside Ostend and
Spa. 1t was mostly show place. where
the passing tourist risked from i've to a
hundred dollars for the fun Of the thing,
or where an occasional millionaire drop
ped few thousand dollars and forgot to
mention IT, or won an equal sum and was
heraided as the man who never could lose.
Ostend was different. The gamblers made
more of a business of it there and last
season the total sums changing hands over
the green cloth at Ostend and Spa were
perhaps double the amounts distributed by
the Monte Carlo CroupierS. Likewise the
average amount of the bets at Ostend has
far exceeded the Monte Carlo average.
In the last season, only three months
long. the tables at Ostend alone made
net profit of 81, 406, coo, after turning over
to the municipality third of a million
in taxes. On top of that each club found
it profitable to pay out of it's own pockets
SIG of each initiates fee of $40. Ostend was
the real gambling center of the world
bleeding Strangers Only.
The story of gambling in Ostend Is sig
nifcant, and every American municipality
could study it to it's own benefit few
years ago any one could leave London at
night and be busy losing his sovereigns
the next morning on almost any corner of
Ostend, at any kind of game of chance,
without the slightest let or hindrance Os-
tend and Spa did not object to that at all .
but when the rich mems sons at home be-
gan to squander their patrimony at the
local tables, when Belgium society women
lost their own and their children's for
tunes, when suicides and forgeries grow
ing out of losses at gambling became
virtue and passed a law closing all the
small dens, and permitting only strangers
to lose their money in the big clubs.
Thereafter, no resident of Ostend might
gamble in any Ostend club. He had to go
to Spa or Namur for his sport and be en-
rolled as a stranger Any visitor to Ostend
who wanted to try" his luck had to go
Though the Formally OF joining club.
one of the leading hotels controlled by the
"Compagnie des Grands Hotels" in which
King Leopold is heavily interested his ap-
pliCation could be rushed through in
night, and he could be seated at rouge ct
noir without loss of time. at a luxurious
"private' club under the watchful eye of
the police. and the paternal care of govern
mental inspectors. If he lost his fortune
and wanted to take his own life the mat
te' could be arranged without making I'M
due noise.
Cities WaXed Fat on 1t.
Tens Of thousands Of dollars changed
hands every hour in the season, and o.
tend and Spa and the lesser Belgium towns
to which the same privileges were extend
ell flourished and waXed fat. The losses Of
the gamesters paid for municipal improve
of the most progressive of cities outside of
Buda Pesth King Leopold's hotels were
crowded, and famous men and gorgeously
appareled Observation-Disclosures, demi-mon-
DANES and nouveaux riches alike-stood in
line waiting for seats at the gaming clubs.
The luxury and extravaganza Of Ostend
last season outstripped that Of any city of
its size in the world.
But in the shadows behind all this fever
ish gayety and reckless display the records
OF crime and despair grew larger and
blacker until public opinion became aroused
despite the wealth that the foreigners were
losing and that Belgium was winning. OS-
tend, Spa, Dnant, Chimay, Namur and the
other towns that had rushed in to get some
Of the plumber stood aghast when a bill
was brought into the legislature few
weeks ago suppressing all public gambling.
With some notifications it was passed, in
spite Of the fierce opposition and powerful
lobbtes Of the interested parties.
Ostend's Doom.
AS the law now stands all games of
chance in public places for stakes are for
hidden, except when the stakes do not ex-
coed the value Of the refreshments taken
by the players. Social and private clubs
are not considered as public places, and
their legitimate members may gamble as
much as they like, but the stranger who
tries to get temporary membership for
the purpose Of gambling will hereafter
find himself confronted by dues and in
itiatfon fees that will keep him out.
While the bill was up for consideration
Ostend wept and walled that she would be
ruined. and that heavy government in
terests would go down with her in the gen.
eral smash. The doleful statement was not
seriously denied, either. Yet the amend
ment to exclude Ostend and Spa from the
general provisions of the bill was defeated
by a vote of 81 to 16, although it Is gen.
orally understood that King Leopold sup
ported the amendment with all the power
he could muster. Now these cities are
trying to get the disaster postponed for
five years. Ostend has magnificent
beach, and its Casino or Kursal has many
attractions aside from gaming tables It
is the favorite resort Of the gay old king,
and it's hotels are some Of the best in
Europe. But It's natural attractions are
not equal to those of Blankenburgh, it's
rival and neighbor, or to those of Spa the
oldest watering place in, Europe, with a
record running back into the thirteen hun
dreds Without the gaming tables to give
it life next summer the chances are it win
plunge abruptly from the top wave of
prosperity to the depths of ruin, unless
some way can be found to initiate strang-
ers temporarily into the local clubs with
out payment of profibitory fees. The fact
that hotel values have not collapsed indi-
Gates a sly expectation that some way will
be found to dodge the law.
But public opinion at large in quiet, staid,
orderly Belgium has turned against the
gaming table and even II Ostend manages
to save it's face" IS the Chinese say its