Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 23, 28 January 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo

MEMORIES of sensational play on the tables at Monte Carlo 50 years ago, when a Bradford mechanic "broke the bank" no fewer than three times in one day, were recalled by the death at the age of 83 of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Smith, of Little Horton, Bradford. Her father, Mr. Joseph Hobson -Tagger, who died in 1802, was a mechanic in a local mill. He was also (something of a mathematician. His knowledge of mechanics told hi in that it was impossible to construct a perfect roulette board iti which the slots were of exactly equal dimensions. Mathematically, he then proceeded to the theory that certain slots and numbers must win more tinier than others. During his visit to Monte Carlo he studied the running of the boards and the mechanism of the tables. He returned home convinced that he could devise a winning system. And this is the romantic story of how he succeeded. He persuaded a number of his workmates to go with him to Monte Carlo. Day after day thov sat at the tables marking down the winning numbers on the various boards.

After a certain period Mr. Jasrger analysed the markings and found the numbers which were winning more times than the others. With lists of these numbers lie then returned to the table*-, and his markers now turned punters, gambled on these numbers alone.

The system "worked" —so successfully, in fact, that Mr. Jagger won £(>O,OOO at one sitting alone, and ''broke tlie bank" three times in one day. The casino authorities were startled, Fearing ruin, they offered Mr. Jagger ft large sum if he would divulge the secret of his system. Ifc refused. The authorities, at their wits' end, then decided, oil the suggestion cf the manufacturers of the boards, who had been hurriedly summoned from. Paris, to change the boards round. The next day the authorities were smiling. Mr. .Tagger's system cams vast uck, and ho lost £40,000. Mr. dagger, however, wae a wily mechanic. He guessed what the authorities had done to outwit him. So once again hi* punter* became markers, until he discovered on which hoards his winning lists were successful. Then he gambled again. The system worked once more, a,jid he eventually returned home with £80,000. The Monte Carlo authorities, determined that no one should emulate Mr. Jagger, subsequently held a conference with the makers of the boards, u a result of which the boards were redesigned, and the croupiers were instructed to throw the ball in the opposite direction to which the wheel was spinning. It was, in fact, a direc,t result of Mr. Jagger's sensational system that the rules of roulette were changed and standardised. °