LUXURY GAMING HELLS.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15203, 16 October 1919, Page 2

LUXURY GAMING HELLS.

The midnight raid on a mansion on the Thames riverside, when a number of Fashionably-dressed men and women were arrested on charges of keeping and Irequenting a gaming-house,, is an indication that the authorities are fully alive to the increase or establishments of this description (says tlie "Sunday Chronicle"). There is hardly a fashionable pleasure resort in which gaming-houses have not been upened—houses in which play is high, and where considerable sums change hands during the night and early morning. The business is found to be extremely profitable, and it is considered well worth the risk of a raid by the police. A house agent recently found a tenant for a large, roomy house, with grounds reaching down to the riverside. bj c was glad enough to let it, for it had long been empty. The tenant gave references, and. deposited a month's rent, £70. The following day some furniture arrived—enough to furnish two or three rooms These rooms were used solely for gaming, and for a fortnight the resort was well patronised Then the furniture was taken away, and the key of the house -eturnod to the agent. The professional iranVblers had made their haul, and passed on to another "desirable" neighbourhood. A gaming'establishment on the South Coast was broken up through the reckless play of a young fool, who on "the night of* his third visit lost every penny he had in the world. In his despair lie attempted to commit suicide" T>y throwiiig himself from the balcony of an upstairs window. The proprietors of the establishment did their utmost to keep all knowledge of the affair from the authorities, but it leaked out, and they made a rapid exit from the town.; A syndicate of gaming crooks not long ago conceived a plan for evading the laws against gambling. They bought a large yacht, and arranged to keep it some distance from the shore. Clients were to be carried to and fro from a populous and thriving pleasure place. One of the gang talked too loudly, 'however, and the syndicate-—one of whom was a well-known figure in tlie West End of London—was informed that the scheme must be dropped. "But if we operate three miles out you have no power to interfere, '* said the ingenious gamester. "That remains to be seen," was the reply. "At the worst, something might .happen to your ship. Anyway you-will ..be'well, advised to drop the idea." So the floating gambling ship never came into existence. A detective officer who has had a wide and interesting experience in dealing with gaming-houses declares that the love of gambling has actually increased since the armistice. "It would seem," he said, "as if men and women grow innre and more reckless as the days speed on. Men who have suddenly become rich—and there are more such people than is generally realised—frequently wage]- largo sums on the turning up of "a card. It is an illustration of the old proverb, 'Easy come, easy go. 1 "Some notion of tho jirammts thai change hands will be gathered from the fact tint in one house we raided more tlian.£ls,ooo was found on the table, while ail who were present were of firm, (substantial standing. "Nor. do the raids tletor those who aiv gripped by the gaming fever. The fines imposed are not deterrent. Why, the proprietor of a flneh eaminrr-bmise enn make enough iv a fortnight to keep him in luxury for the rest of the year."