MONTE CARLO AND ITS VISITORS. The Smart and the Shabby.

Otago Witness, Issue 2250, 15 April 1897, Page 50

MONTE CARLO AND ITS VISITORS. The Smart and the Shabby.

A paragraph has recently gone the rounds to the effect that Miss Ellen Terry has been refused admission to the Casino at Monte Carlo on the ground that her attire was not

sufficiently emart. Lord Salisbury was similarly treated a few years ago. Many people imagine that the visitor to Monte Cario has but to walk to the pasino, and, if he desires, enter the gambling rooms ; but if he triss thia without going through the neceeaary formalities he will generally find the way barred by the gorgeousljuniformed police surrounding the entrance. On presenting himself at the Casino the would-be entrant is referred to the office, where his name and address, the country from which he hails, and his apparent age are entered in a book, together with the probable duration of his stay. Thia being satisfactorily concluded, and the visitor being approved by the officials, he is given a card entitling him to admission to the Casino for a day. week, month, or longer, according to the length of his visit. This card has also to be signed by the holder. Armed with this official warrant, he may now go where he will within the Casino, which includes not only the gambling room?, but reading, writing, and smoking rooms, and a theatre. Tha great hall is largely used by smokers and prcrnenadera, and indeed the use of the Casico is much the same as the privilege of being made an honorary member of a good club in a strange place, and equally welcome. The Casino generally, as far as the reading, &c, rooms are concerned, opens daily at 10 a.m., but the gambling rooms are not thrown opsn till noon. For at least a quarter of an hour before the opening of the latter a large crowd surrounds the doors, amongst which may be noted the faces of old and regular patrons, many ot whom, preferring to be their own croupiers, bring their own rakes ; though it is to b3 feared that their winnings do not often justify the purchase of a new one, albeit they are for the most part f arniahed with intricate and wonderful systems of play. Most of these habitue j have lost large sums at the tablep, and are now content to spend the remnant of their dajs f where their fortune has bsen lost. " They fancy they have bought the Casino with their

money, and so they lire -in it," observed a facetious young official. At this time of the year Monte Carlo is filled with a wealthy and ever-changing crowd of visitors, the elite of the world ; but the resident gambler watches the giddy throng with a stolid equanimity, and will ever be found close up to the doors at 11.45 a.m. or thereabouts. The "regulars" are usually content — perhaps " compelled " would be more correct— to go for very small winnings, and will often wait in their seats for hours without making a Bingle stake, watching for some sequence of numbers or colours which they imagine will be followed by another of a csrtain character ; although it is difficult to say how this can be determinable in a game of the purest chance, such as there can be no doubt is roulette as played at Monte Carlo, the only certainty being that in the end, if not at the beginning, the bank must win, having * clear mathematical advantage over its opponents. Daring the season, which is from December 14 to April 14, there are customers in plenty, and the administration can afford to pick and choose who shall or shall not enter the rooms. There is, however, no complaint as to lack of smartness of attire during the "off" months, when the ambition of every little peasant or storekeeper in the towns along the Riviera i 3 to spend a Sunday at the great gambling den — too often to losethe profits of many weeks' trading or the savings of a lifetime. •' L' Administration toujours gagne," sighed an old French lariy 'in the hearing of the writer as she watched a hnge pile of stakes being drawn into the coffers of the bank, reminding one that, be the visitors to the tables shabby or smart, the Administration will unfailingly exact its tax for their attendance.