The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-23
MONTECARLO !.
FINANCING
How the Monaco Bank
Is Sometimes
Beaten.

money has a curious way of lea kns
out into publicity, however tightly
guarded; and although Messieurs the
i Directors of the Casino Company OF
Monte Carlo are discreetness itself il
this matter, the world has already
learned the fact that their wonderful
cash coming machine has, during the
season 1904-1905 earned for their share
holders the magnificent sum of e144O,-
500, an increase Of roughly $4,000 on
the right side of the balance sheet
the right side for them. at least, if not
| for the Riviera tripper-over the TAX
ings of 1a03-1s04.
| what this increase is due to, Or sup
| posed to be due to. we are not told;
| but its significance, to the student of
| economy not less than to the student
| OF morals, is very considerable. It
would appear that NJ. Blanc, the Ma
poleon of the roulette wheel, though
| dead. yet speaketh,'' and with a voice
which is the sweetest music in the
Monegasques ears; whose echoes.
moreover, are heard not infrequently
on the Partisan Bourse, when shares
in his modestly styled "Societe Anony-
me des Bains de Mer ct CercIe DIES
Etrangers' comes into the market It
would appear, likewise, that the in
crease in his salary from $4,000
per annum to 10000, which the Prince
of the Sunny Promontory recently ex-
torted from the Casino Company when
he renewed its lease for another so
years, is not so ruinous a piece of
blackmail as was then suppo- ed; and
that the 100000 which was. spent on
the local theater and orchestra, though
seemingly extravagant. has proved a
sound investment. Notwithstanding the
continued loss on these latter attrac-
tons.
Does any fly who walks into NJ
Blanc's parlor. one is tempted TO Won
der, ever issue thence as fat as when
he entered? One would fancy MOTTO
judge by the figures of this paralyzing
balance sheet. Nevertheless, the sto-
ries of fortunes made at Monte Carlo
persistently outnumber those of for
tunes lost. Whether this singular
phenomenon is traceab1e to the 'press
subvention,' which in 1901 (the last
report in which it seems openly to be
alluded tol cost e100,000 it would be
impossible to have suspicious. That
versatile gossip, Lieutenant Colonel
Newnham- Davis, vouches for the truth
of an anecdote which credits a Chicago
friend of his with scooping 100000
francs in the Sales de Jeu in single
day. and (greater marvel stilD having
the horse sense to "Skedaddle' with
the whole sum intact There is no
reason TO doubt, too that in the 1912
winter season one of the Russian Grand
Dukes, playing in the Club Privee,
made 100000 francs.
Probably more money has been lost
by the Monte Carlo Bank" through
fraud than through what we must, for
lack of a better name, call honest
play. An institution such as the Ca
sino is a tempting bait for the profess
sional swindler: and there are more
such gentry harbored in Monaco's three |
miles of territory than in any other |
spot of similar size in the civilized |
globe. True. the majority of them prey |
not on the bank, but on its dupes, |
Stake snatching ana various ingenious |
variants of the confidence trick form |
their main standby. Still. the bank |
itself suffers from their attentions.
A copy of that remarka BILE weekly, |
Nn-, n
les Joueurs de Roulette ct de Trente-
t-Quarante''-lies before the writer,
and contains a full. true and particular
account OF one OF the most famous and
most amusing of the many attacks on
The bank which have been planned
within recent years. The prime mover
n the plot was the magnificent swell
Addison, who had success
July worked" nearly every pleasure
'esort on the continent and who now,
or the first time, turned his attention
o the seemingly unassailable fortress
# wealth by the Tideless Sea. Ardis-
son it seems, "Spied out the
and at Monte Carlo a month
or more before he attempted opera
ions: and. clad in an unassuming dis
yuise. made a particular study of the
gaming tables and the methods of play.
Like many wise folks before and since
ne came TO the conclusion that rou-
cite was unworthy of his attentions.
Its companion game. trente-et-quar-
ante, gave him. however. some food
or thought. 1t was played with cards;
I was nonmechanical: the personal
equation" entered into its procedure;
md. finally, the stakes were high. In
then he saw his
spening
Vanishing for a space from the
leighboThood Of his blisSfully ignor-
mt victims, he returned eventually,
ccompanied by a friend of his own sex
and profession) and a couple of beau {
iful and we'll dressed ladies. The par
V ranged themselves, two on each side l
f the trente- et-Quarante board, and
,hile the croupier was shufflling the s
ards preparatory to starting a fresh {
ct of deals, the lady on one side en- {
aged the umpire in ingenious chat {
skiing explanations of how the game
as played. and so forth-while she on I
= irn e