The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-03
N~s~s~s~s~s~s~s-s~s~s-s~s~s
CALIFORNIAN
ABROAD.
By Thomas Fitch
MONTE CARLO.
MONTE CARLO.



gain a temporary advantage there, but
in the end nineteen viii conquer eigh-
teen, for the same reason that Lord
Dundreary assigns as an answer to the
conundrum why does a dog waggle
his tai1?-Because the dog is bigger
| than the tail; if it We're otherwise the
tail would waggle the dog" But so
long as avarice is a human passion and
lack of logic a human weakness, and
| knowledge of these warnings a human
possession, so long win there be cold
and crafty men to establish roulette
| tables, and dolts and dreamers to play
at them. The game explains itself; you
| have eighteen and one-half chances to
/ win and nineteen chances to lose. The
| advantage that the bank has is about
| one and one-half per cent, and the
| player bets ten dollars against nine
| dollars and eighty-five cents. This adj
| vantage is obvious, but nevertheless the
! Casino rooms are crowded, and the soft
| cry of the croupier is heard from noon
until midnight. Perhaps, you have not
had the advantages of a liberal educa-
| ton, and know not the paths of Satan
| in this direction-let me explain. Here
! is a table numbered from naught to
thirty-six; there are eighteen black
one brown number, namely "naught"
or zero" There is a saucer shaped
| wheel. revolving on a steel pivot in the
center OF the table, which wheel
is divided into thirty-seven little
compartments, colored and numbered TO
agree with the squares in the table. a
small ivory ball the size of a marble is
sent spinning around the edge of the
revolving wheel in an opposite direction
from the course thereof. In q few sec
onds, as the centrifugal motion of the
wheel lessons, the ball stumbleS and
sta ggers, and finally drops into one of
the little compartments. The player
who has staked his money on the cor
responding number on the table, re-
ceives thirty-five times the amount of
his bet. The figures are also divided
into rows and compartments of twelve
each. If he has bet on the line or COM
partment containing the figure into
which the ball has dropped, he receives
twice the sum he staked. If he has
bet on the number being odd or even,
or red or black, he receives, if
he wins, an equal amount with that of :.
his stake. The amount which may be
rislxed at Monte Carlo is not less than
five francs nor more than six thousand
francs at any one bet. Experience has
demonstrated the rule of the equality of
chance. In a days play-or if not in
a day, then in a week, or a month, or
a year-the little ivory ball will drop
just as many times into each number;
just as many times into the red as the
black; just as many times into the odd
as the even section It follows that
once in every-t hirty-seven times the
ball will fall into the zero. Whenever !
that happens the bank wins half of all .
color and number bets. This is the |
banks percentages" this, and not
good luck, is what supports the Prince !
.of Monaco and the costly Casino, and
beautiful grounds. 1t consumes usual
" little less than one minute to set
tie the bets and whirl the ball. Twice
an hour, then, or twenty-four times
each day, the ball will drop into zero
The average amount on each table at
every turn of the wheel is not less than
two hundred dollars; it may be as low
as ten dollars; may-very rarely-be as
high as ten thousand dollars; but two
hundred is the average. Twenty-four
times each day the table wins one
hundred dollars,-twenty-f hundred
dollars per day for each table, and there
are five tables. Twelve thousand dol
lars a day or four million three hundred
and eighty thousand dollars per annum
Jess the expense of the Prince and the
music. and the servants and the gar
dens, and all flowing out of the fact
that the people of France and Germany
and England, and sometimes of Ameri-
ca. who flock to Monte Carlo, do not
know or do not appreciate, or do not
care that nineteen is mightier than
OTa-ho1f /
If YOU ever feel inclined to buck at
roulette, remember that, though you
NAV perhaps in strange country defy
the rules of morality with safety, you
cannot assaI with success the rules of
arithmetic. Geometry is an absolute
science. Even the Power that made
twice two four cannot change the rule
so as TO make it FIVE. If your Sunday
school fails you, fall back on your Da-
EoIl and save your pocket money.
NV companion knowing that when
the ball dropped into zero the bank was
the winner, jumped to the conclusion
that the operators would cause it to
dro, there with undue frequency. SO
she ventrred five franc piece on the
zero. Thrice did she repeat this in
vestnent without result. The fourth
time the ball dropped into the zero sure
enough. The croupier counted out
eight gold napoleons and three silver
five franc pieces and paid the bet. But
there's many a slip twixt the cup and
the lip for a grizzled Frenchman
the bet and seized the money.
Tn vain did she demonstrate, and when
she appealed to me could only say
the check guerilla industry is evident
lv not confined to Arizona.
The crowd around the tables was
varied and cosmopolitan. Our hotel
reached out a skinny arm,
and his skeleton fingers dropped a ma
poleon on the red. Is he trying to win
his funeral expenses wonder? There