SCENES IN A LONDON GAMBLING DEN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3139, 16 October 1922, Page 7

SCENES IN A LONDON GAMBLING DEN.

“Dens” is hardly* an appropriate word by which to designate the luxurious houses and hats where nightly congregate the hardened gamblers of London and that small section of society and the half-world which is ever seeking a new vice to stimulate their appetites. The runners of “games” (the term by which they are known to the initiated) may be divided into two ehsSses: (a) those who are raided by the police; (b) the clever ones, who are not. The former seel ion use the same house or fiat for their nightly orgies ol gambling, and the attention of the police <| nick ly becomes directed to them, owing to the stream, of pgoplc and ears continually arriving. After a lew nights ol watching a raid ensues, and a long list ol names of people arrested appears in the newspapers. The second and wiser class never hold their game in the same place on two consecutive nights. They generally have twenty or thirty people from whom they can hire a room for the night, for which privilege ten to fifteen guineas is an average price, according to the accommodation and locality. " C'liemin-de-fer (known as “Cliemie”) i- the game most commonly played, with baccarat and roulette second and third. As a rule. “drinks,” sandwiches, cigars, and cigarettes are provided hv Ihe runner of the game and dispensed by a satellite (usually a needy friend), who for two or three pounds answers the door, only letting in those who are known to him. He remains on the. watch all night, ready to warn the players i-f anything “goes wrong.” Play usually begins about 10 p.m.. and often lasts till six or seven o’clock the next morning. All these games can be played by any number of people. In “C’hemio” the dealer, who is also the “banker” and the runner of the game, deals out two cards apiece, face downwards. The obmet of the game is to secure two cards which total 9. /meli as a o and a 4. a i and a 2. and so on. I'.vcr voile is entitled to buy a fresh ‘ ard if they arc not satisfied with their “hand.” and this is taken from what is known as (he “slipper.” a large triangular wooden box. Kaeh person in Him can challenge the bank, and if bis i aids arc higher than those held by the bank (the bank, for instance, bolding seven against nine), be takes the lake, becomes banker in bis turn, and is challenged by Urn next person. Maccarat is played in precisely the same way, with the exception that the bank is stationary. The chief tiling that strikes the. newcomer in a gambling den is the entire absence of emotion on the part of Ihe players. Among the women then' are generally .-nine who spend their w hole life at the tables. They are baggardfaced. with hard eyes, and they smoke cigarette after cigarette. They gamble away each night the last mestiges of tile youth and beauty they once possessed. Lcsidcs the habitues there are a sprinkling of young girls who have come “for sensation.” .Most of the men are foreigners ol every profession under ibe sun. with a largo proportion of wealthy bookmakers. M.L.