The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-13

witnessed a scene which l have never
forgotten. Seated on one of the dvans
again the wall was an old English
lady, evidently lame-perhaps equity,
for she had both crutch and cane.
she had card before her on which she
was pricking the results of the deals,
while back and forth from the table to
her two young girls of is or 17-prob-
ably her granddaughter her
stakes, and reported her winnings and
losses. At trente-et-quarante the deal
goes rapidly, and it kept both the girls
moving.
More unpleasant scenes than these
take place continually in the gambling
hell. Around the tables there hang a
horde of harpies old and young
dreadful old French beldames, painted,
powdered and with juvenile smirks
and smiles. These creatures are in
wait for anything; to beg a louis from
some lucky player-an old man; to be
invited to dinner by some lucky player
"a young man or an ass; to steal the
stakes of some lucky player-preferably
foreigner who knows neither the
game nor language. If the robbed per-
son resents the theft and demands res
titution, these creatures bespatter them
with fiery, fluent and sometimes OBJ
scene French. The chief -the-table
sometimes interferes-not to make res
titution but to restore order-but he
generally sides with the thief.
Folly of the Players.
The infatuation of these poor gam
blers, their belief in their systems
these things are as amazing as they
are ludicrous. If one wants to learn
whether the players or the bank have
the best chance. all they have to do
is to look at the gorgeous Casino and
the haanfif1I
them? The players, of course.
But the running of the game itself
proves the players lack of chance. The
percentage of the bank in what faro
dealers call Splits or winning all at
zero or open numbers, together with
its refait in other ways, would beat
any player or players. no matter how
large their capital or how great their
skill. If the bank had exactly ten mill
lions of francs and a ski1lful gambler
sat down with another ten millions and
played against it. the bank in time
would win every penny of his capital
1t is as inevitable as that two and two
make four.
Among the banks advantages which
the player cannot beat are these:
l. The maximum. No one can cope
with that. There is no maximum on
the banks winnings from the player
tage to the bank of at least ~ per
cent.
3. Unfair odds. On single numbers
the real odds are of course So to L. the
bank gives but 35. This makes 8 per
cent. more for the bank
4. The personal equation. The bank
has no weaknesses. is controlled en-
tirely by rules, and stops playing when
1t has lost a certain amount.
1hlorS will NOT HStaa 70 raosor or
Monte Carlo would not exist. They
credulously continue to play their
systems" When such a man as Sir
Hiram Maxim points out their folly
by demonstrating mathematically the
inevitable winning of the bank in the
long run, they tell him that he doesn't
know what he is talking about.
When gaming was permitted in Paris
the great mathematician Arago had a
dear friend who was losing his patri-
mony at the roulette table of Frascati.
Arago did his best to convince his UNI
fortunate friend of his folly, but the
gambler had a "martingale" which he
was sure would win at roulette. Arago
asked him what his capital was. The
friend told him. Aago then made a
calculation, and proved to him that
by playing the "martingale" his capt.
tai would last less than three months
1t came to pass The memorable logic
of figures proved Arago's statement to
be true. The unfortunate gamester
lost his ready money, but so infatuat-
ed are gamblers that he would not
be convinced. He mortgaged his lands
played the proceeds on the same mar
tingale." and in another month was a
beggar.
But it is useless to waste sympathy
on the gamblers of Monte Carlo. Their
folly is so incredible that they are
outside the pale. They shut their eyes
and ears to reason in their greed for
gold. They will not heed even the
epigram of the cruical NJ. Blanc. who
founded the great foll-killer industry
which relieves them Of their shekels
Sometimes" said he, red loses, and
sometimes black. but white (Blanc) al
ways wins" "Cest encore rouge qui
perd, ct encore noir, mails toujours
Blanc qui gague."
And NJ Blanc was right