The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-07-07
MONTE CARLO AS IT REALLY IS
Many Popular Ideas of the Famous Gambling
Resort Are Erroneous.

5 upon your shoes, and your trouseI
, must not be turned up. l supposed TIL
latter rule had strictly to do with az
pearances until an old "habitue' en-
lightened me. 1T is to prevent coin
| from being secreted," he said. 1T
easy to drop a coin down the trouse
leg. where it lodges in the turned-u
part" For the same reason, one ca
not take in a hat or an umbrella; bot
can so readily be converted into
money box.
Notices are prominently displayed il
timating that tickets of admission ca
be withheld or taken away without an
reason being given.
He expressed his unbounded aston
ishment to the Casino authorities, blu
no explanation was forthcoming. FL
nally, with infinite pains, he discovered
that his entry was refused because o
his likeness to a noted pickpocket
When proofs were furnished of his en-
tire responsibility the embargo was re
moved.
| Having successfully obtained the
! ticket you pass into a solemn-lookine
| hall, set with columns, and discreetly
| lighted from above. This might be the
entrance to Lloyd's or any great com
mercial institution in the country. It
is eminentlv somber, respectable, and
Iow-toned. With coat and hat deposit
ed in the ''vestiare'-they thoughtfully
make no charge for this accommoda-
ton, so that if you lose your money
you can still recover your chattels-you
pass through green baize doors into the
''salone des jeux.''
Il might be a tennis match that peo-
pie are looking at; they are not more
excited outwardly, at least, than that
Some sit round the tables, others form
an upright fringe. 1 expected to see
wild plunging; except at the trente ct
quarante table, there was practically
no high play. The five-franc piece is
the Monte Carlo unit at roulette. Only
one or two players at a table will put
their hundred francs or a thousand
upon one number, or upon two. The
great majority tempt fortune with five
or ten francs, or at the most, with
louis. No one appears to be unduly
excited, or to take the adverse rulings
of fate too much to heart.
The fact is, gambling at Monte Carlo
is much less dangerous than in many
other circumstances. 1t is ready-money
betting. You cannot gamble away your
next years income or your patrimony,
because such assets as checks and
promissory notes are not considered at
Monte Carlo. 1t is money down, and
none other is accepted.
The real danger of the littoral is not
Monte Carlo, but the multitude of So
called private gambling clubs, which
have sprung up at Nice and elsewhere.
The Government has made efforts to
Suppress these tripods" where cheat
ing of the most outrageous sort goes
on, but such pressure has been put up
on the police that they have been
obliged to desist. In consequence these
spurious clubs-admission to which is
the merest formality-f1ourish like the
green bay tree. Deplorable are the
results
Local tradesmen, who are debarred
entrance at Monte Carlo by the regula-a
ton, join these gambling clubs, which
have merely to make a formal declara-
ton to the Project to be Immediately
licensed for their nefarious operations.
Often a villa is hired for the express
pun pOSC VI LOA AAAI5 II 4LNO q N1oO" AAiC
public is attracted thereto, and is
speedily plucked of it's capital. Bank
ruptcy follows Many of these south
ern resorts could tell a melancholy tale
Of residents ruined by the fatal green
,loth spread for them in ''soi-disant," !
private social institutions. "Anti-sociaP'
would be nearer the correct label.
Monte Carlo on the contrary, is
place where one goes with the de-
liberate intention of risking a certain
amount of capital on the tables. The
great majority of people make the cal
culation beforehand: II can afford to
lose such-and-s a sum''-hence they |
are not tragicallly affected when they
do lose it.
There are, of course. cases of the |
widest plunging, but, generally. the |
player has lost the greater part of his !
money elsewhere, and goes to the prin-
,ipality as a last resort.-Manchester |
Chronicle.