MONTE CARLO STAKES

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1945, Page 2

MONTE CARLO STAKES

CONTINUE to be high. Monte Carlo is about the only place on the Riviera which has suffered much war damage. The post-office was wiped out by a bomb during the German occupation, and one complete area near the harbour is completely gone (reports a London correspondent oi the “Sydney Morning Herald.”) Since the Gestapo, which had its headquarters near the Casino, has left, there have been few uniforms, but still there is no shortage of gamblers. Six or seven tables have been going every night in the famous Salle Privee. •Play in this room has been amazingly high, and usually the minimum amount allowed is £lO to £l5 sterling. It is estimated that a night’s turnover in one room is over 50 million francs, or £250,000 sterling. A “Sunday Times’s” correspondent recently saw an. Italian sit down at 7 p.m. at a roulette table where the minimum stake was 100 francs and the maximum 30..000. He played the maximum (about £l5O sterling) every time, and found the winning number every time. In. 15 minutes he walked off with 480,000 francs, a profit of over £2,000. You no longer see at the Casino the smart cosmopolitan crowds of wellknown people of pre-war days. From the negligent way gamblers ■throw their money about and from their behaviour it would seem .that they represent the black market at its blackest.