SECRET GAMBLING

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3717, 2 November 1926, Page 7

SECRET GAMBLING

MONTE CARLO THRILLS IN MAYFAIR INDIAN PRINCE WHO BROKE THE BANK This is tile season for gambling, large and small '(says a ‘Sunday Chronicle’ writer. All over the Continent, in quite 200 casinos, groups are crowding around the roulette and boule tables, throwing a* few shillingsworth in francs on the green squares, while a few yards away devotees of baccarat are sitting in silent play. It is all very mildly exciting, very wicked, very exotic. Yet it is not necessary to cross the English Channel to enjoy these thrills. Eor this is the season for gambling, large and small, in London.

Every August sees a sudden spurt of enterprise on the part of the welldressed men about town who are engaged in miming* the West End's gaming-houses. ’ A RECOMMENDATION. Mansions in Mayfair remove the “to net " signs, but keep their shutters closed. Plenty ol big firms will “temporarily furnish'' two floors lor .Tout) ; crates oi champagne are stored in a back room, and tlie trap is set.

Rerhaps the most complete gambling adventure ot tins summer was related the other day by a young Indian Army officer on leave.

“1 had been to a show, a bad one, and came out into the darkened streets feeling terribly bored with lile. So i wont to the one great philosopher Jett in London, a man wiio runs a famous cocktail bar. “‘keeling bored witli life, eh?’ lie said. 1 Wen, it you have a couple ot livers on you teh a taxi to drive you out to number at Late.’ “ In fifteen minutes I was outside a huge, deserted-looking place, ringing the bell. In about three minutes a dear old family butler opened the door. “ I’m a friend of So-aud-So.’s,” .1 said. “‘Certainly, sir. Will you step into the hall while I take your card up?’ “In live minutes he was down again, and I followed him up the staircase into a library sort of room. “Presently a fellow in evening dress came in, asked me to have a whisky and soda, asked about a man in my regiment at Allahabad, and talked as if we had known each other for years, it was all very quiet and respectable. “ ‘ I’ve gut a lew friends in playing with a most charming little toy,’ he said at length. “ And then came the surprise of my life, for lie threw open a heavy door and there were about twenty people, men and women, all in evening dress, standing about a little boule table, croupier, and everything. PACCAR AT. “They were playing with a minimum of half-crown stakes, at which you stood to win 17s tkl up to LT stakes, at which you won T7. “ I backed five with a 10s note and it came in three times, bringing me ten guineas. At one throw about {.'Bo changed hands. Kvcry now and then people would break away from the group and stroll over through heavy curtains to another room, beautifully furnished witli flowers. where there were two tables at baccarat. This, of course, was the real show. The boule was just an overture.

“ It was all so exactly like a Charles (jiarvicc novelette that I wanted to laugh. Uiit everybody looked quite normal; and the place was quite ‘straight'.’ I won t2U, and when i left jit about 5 o’clock there were still a dozen people at the tables.” This experience is a typical one. and there are plenty of others. The other day a rich young Indian prince broke the bank at a> gaming place near Grosvenor square. WON £2,501).

Tie started with. £lO, and in four hours had taken in £‘2,500. even when the hank was held by an outsider and not by the “ house.” More than one ex-Cubinet Minister has been seen in this place, and in the half-dozen big Mayfair resorts nearly every celebrity ventures at one time or another. Not all, of course, are of this high standard. In Soho there are small “dives,” where every imaginable game is played. The police are almost powerless to stamp them out, for evidence is hard to get. The men running the places build up a careful clientele, and a c.neful system of collecting new ‘clients.” They have to be caretul. But the profits are enormous.