The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-10-08
THE GAMBLERS GET 1T

The United States has unQueStionably
become the champion gambling nation OF
the world As far as the record shows III
no country that has ever existed, has
the gambling record of this country been
ruuailed; and i'm the world as it stands to-
day. nations disposed to boast Of their
gambling achievements show up as poor
seconds, thirds and fourhS to this country.
Gambling is everywhere in this country
and is Of every conceivable kind and de-
vice. One of the most extensive and worst
forms of gambling known in this country
is listed under the general term of slot ma
chimes. OF slot machines the last number
of the State Magazine of Raleigh has this
TO say:
AS we have said on several previous occasions
there is no more persistent legislative lobby than
that sponsored by the slot machine interests Not
only that but they are the most ingenious folks
i'm the world. When you think they are legally
buried they pop up in entirely new guise. Such
has been the case in almost every state where they
have operated.
Here in North Carolina where thought we
had definitely got rid of the contraptions, they
have put in their appearance again The only way
90 deal with the slot-machine folks is to walop EN-
every time they show their hand, and we hope that
North Carolina, as well as other states, will con-
uuuc 10 adhere to that policy
The foregoing links up with the follow
ing paragraphs dealing with slot machines
and recorded i'm Rotary Magazine:
Most parents seeing boys gamble will either
take punitive action or shake their heads and ease
the situation by comment to the effect that gam
bling Is an instinct, that instincts are part OF
human nature, that you can't change human ma
turc. But Dr. J. Halsey Gulick. academy head
master. did neither when boys in his charge played
the slot machines.
He went TO police headquarters, secured con-
Gscatcd gambling device, and had it set up IN the
mathematics room of his school Then he arranged
with the mathematics instructor to work up PROB
lem involving the law of mathematical probability
The boys were to play the machine with 'phoney
money to solve the problem. And they discovered
several surprising things.
"They learned, for example, that player hits
the lack pot once in 1000 times. At nickle a
throw that meant it would cost about $500 to
win So. They learned also that the next highest
'payoff was once in , 200 plays and made it cost
500 to win ST."
The owners of gambling devices and the
promoters of various forms of gambling
get the money of the suckers who play
their games and support the gambling
business. The odds against the suckers
may not always be as great as they were
found to be in the slot machine racket,
but that is a fair estimate of the average
chances of the suckers to win in their con-
tests with the gamblers and gambling ma
chimes.
The TimeS-NewS is inclined to say to
players of slot machines and supporters OF
all kinds of gambling racketS-
DON'T BE A SUCKER
BUT WHAT'S THE USE?
A sucker is born that way. The late
p T. Barnum said one was born every
minute. That birth rate is greatly exceed
ed in these latter days. Nowadays a suck
er is born every second in the United States
and grows up to put his cash in slot ma
chimes, with the chances 1000 to l against
him; or, failing to let it go fast enough
that way, plays some of the devices dis
played in the carnivalS at the county fairs.
Those Russians who were left to spend