The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-27
From Harper's Weekly.

From Harper's Weekly.
 4 T Monte Carlo the race track and "A all gambling places where an 4 organized system of play pre-
 vails, the success of the bank,
 which, in the long run, is in- evitabIe is the resuIt'of the small math- ematical chances in its favor, which are bound to tell against the gambler. The fortunes piled up by such organizations are plain proofs of the inevitable bad luck of the men who play. Individual gamblers may win, and keep their win nings if they have sense-enough to stop; but the players, in bulk. must lose.
 When Sir Hiram Maxim. who has de- voted much attention to an investigation of the mathematics of gambling, inter viewed the habitual gamblers among those who came within the zone of his investigations who sacrificed one- fourth of their earnings to betting agents-he found that a bettor is lucky when he plays s and gets back s1. The bookmaker's prifits are 32 per cent The majority of men who play do it hoping to win largely The forget that the
 
 stockholders business, and that, no mat ter what horse wins. the business of the bookmaker is to keep from losing.
 To all appearances the bookmaker is in some danger of misfortune when all the bettors are betting on one or two favor ites; too many are betting against him. In reality, everything is playing into his hands: even when his risks are great est, his receipts exceed what he gives; and, eventually the operation is sure to turn to his advantage. The combination ends in disaster for the bettor, even when all the chances are in his favor. It is nothing more nor less than mathematical formula. The player, in the aggregate, is bound to lose, because the ratio of his advantages is always less than the bookmaker's. The few and relatively insignificant winnings of the bettor are considerably reduced by his misleading information" lack of seri- ous data and good tips" Yet the majority of bettors stripped at the races continue to bet. because they hope to win at some time in the future.
 There is no game in which the chances against the gambler are less than at roulette and trente ct quarante.
 Roulette has always been the most popular of all games. In roulette the croupier spins a little ball in a sort of shallow bowl whose sides are divided into thirty-seven leases" or compart- ments. Thirty-six of the compartments are numbered. The croupier sets the h. t1xn bowl, striking first one side, then an- | other, and finally stops. No one has any means of>knowing where it will stop. | Half the compartments are red (rouge) and the other half black (noir). The com partments are not numbered in numer- | ical order; chance, as far as can be seen, stops the ball either in one com partment or in another. The chances are even, except that the compartment that is known as zero, and numbered c, Is the compartment reserved by the banker as his one chance in thrty-seyen over and above the even possibilities.
 | At roulette one may stake even money on red or black; on odd or even; on the ball falling into a compartment under or over 19. Or one may bet one to 3e upon zero or any number. or upon groups of numbers. the chances against the bet tor being approximately reduced. If the ball stops in the compartment marked zero. the bank pays S6 to on all moneys staked upon zero, but takes half the stakes of those betting on even chances, unless they care to let their stakes lie till the next throw, when they lose their money or get it back without addition. This is the banks advantage-and 1t seems trivial one. But since the wheel lis spun between 50 and 60 times in an hour, such profits mount up swiftly.
 One of the directors of the Monte Carlo casino. who studied the game during several consecutive years, found that the banks winnings at trente ct quarante land at, oulette together amount one