The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1904-02-12
GAMBLING HELLS
Quaint old Macao Famous for
Its Gaming Tables.
The Portuguese City Has a Most
Active Rival to the Celebrat-
ed Casino at Monte Caria.

Quaint and picturesque is the old
Portuguese city of Macao, which,
though decaying and almost mort
bund settlement from the commercial
point of aview, Is, says Mr.. Eutace
Reynolds Balls, the seat OF a highly
lucrative gambling industry, over a
score of licensed gambling house pay
tax in the aggregate OF some $780,
600 year to the government.
Macao has beeen, aud Is still, chief
ly celebrated for It's gaming tables,
which are crowded by Chinese and
Portuguese, aud from Saturday to
Monday by Britishers from Hong
Kong, who prefer having flutter at
the game, II 1t can be so called, of fan
tan, instead of going to the service at
Hong Kong cathdrsl. The gambling
hells are in the Chinese quarter, and
are by no means attractive as regards
exterior or interior. They are, OF
course, licensed by the Portuguese.
uthorities-indeed, the taxes i'm
posed on these gambling dens consti-
tute one of the principal sources OF
revenue Of the city.
The gambling houses are usually
of one story only, and on the ground
floor (Which you enter at once from
the street, there being no hall or ante
room) you find an ill-lighted and
ill-ventilated room, some thirty feet
by fifty feet, the sole furniture OF
which Is table about six feet high.
Before the croupies, usually the pro-
prietor, Is small pile OF cash. In
the middle of the table Is a large slab
OF zinc, divided into four sections,
numbered one, two, three and four.
The punters stake their stakes on one
of the sections, but the richer players
are careful not to indicate the amount
of the stake, and wrap their money
up in rice paper, though even then
a most SIX lied croupier would find it
difficult with so many EYES watching
mis- manipulation OF the cash to add to
his legitimate profits by cheating.
The ground floor room is crowded
with lower class natives and a sprink-
ling of foreigners but in the taconi
which surround the gambling hell are
collected the mem bers of the Chimes
"haute monde" mandsries and other
tunctionators, who can join in the
game unpeceived by the common
heard below.
The pass their stakes to the Group
Ter in small baskets, which are lower
ed and raised by cord. When all
the stakes have been laid down the
zinc tablet by this time is quite con-
cealed by little heaps of coins and lit
tie pill-like pellets which contain the
stakes of the more curious gamblers.
suspicious OF the dexterity OF Group
iers in manipulating the cash--the
croupier calls out the Chinese equiv
alent of "Messieurs, lie jeu est faith. "
He indicates this as we'll by icovering
his own heap of cash by brass bowl
and begins slowly and deliberately
to draw out four cash at a time, with
a chopstick In each hand. His move
ments are purposely deliberate, so a.
to impress the punters with the fact
"that there Is no deception" Ulti-
mately the heap Is reduced to one,
two or three cash, or nothing remains
The winning stakes are at once paid
In proportion to three times the stakes
(less the bankers commission of ten
per cent? to those who have backed
the winning numbers one, two, three
or four, the latter number only win
ming when no cash remains in the
heap after division.