A FLY WHICH COST MONTE CARLO £5,000.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 282, 2 June 1909, Page 6

A FLY WHICH COST MONTE CARLO £5,000.

The superstition of gamblers is well known, but it is seldom that their reliance upon omens brings them such luck as was the case at Monte Carlo on January 25, 1904. At what is known as the "suicides" table in the Monte Carlo rooms,-, a fly alighted on No. 13 on the roulette table at a time when the players had suffered a persistent run of bad luck. The superstitious gamblers exchanged covert glances and searched their pockets for money with which to stake. In a few moments the- ''middle dozen,"' that is to say, i tin 1 numbers from 13 to 24, were i literally covered with stakes. Then an elderly gambler arose and piled napoleons round the square on which the- iiy bad alighted, thus hacking the numbers from 10 to 17. The' ivory marble was sent spinning, and thw croupier announced the winning number — 13. But what is far more extraordinary,' the same number came up three times in succession. That fly cost the Casino £5000.