MAYFAIR GAMBLING DENS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 6 February 1918, Page 7

MAYFAIR GAMBLING DENS

MEN AND WOMEN LURED TO RUIN. It has lieon i-eft to tho priisciix! war to revive' fadiiona-blic gambl ng that earuc to an end when. Queen Victoria ascended tho 'throne (says a. London paper). Thanks 'to an elaborate syste a of touting oinw>ng tho mixed dubs and hotels of the West End, mainly by women, "pigeons'' galore have been fotind among 'ilhe many wealthy women who, with, nothwig itoilto and wall Continental travelling altogether stop. ped l have Uto stay 'in London. Gambif jig honsesi are commencing to flourish, 'in a .style remliniscieiutti of the late eighties, when baccarat and roulette proved the financia] jw-nafcioiu of many neh young fool who, fondly imagined he had a chance of acquiring a forfcun".

Tli/tf great majority of thcx gaining houses are ita May Fair, MnjUa Vale, ami St. James', while disreputable iiiotela along '.hie Thames a<ro utilised when a West End pi ace becomes too which is. played' most, oil H is safe to say within the lad.l sjix months tliounhikls ol' pounds have been liost and won bs' frequenters of the more fashionable bouses which coiiduct their "business" ':n a, most 'exclusive manner.

Women, proverbially the waist gamblers in the world, for they never know when to stop, si|j> over the tables feverfslily staging money whiichi in many cases 1 is not(i.'h'c<irs, «.nd rise about thra> o'clock iu jlm morn-wig, and go home vowing "never again 'w'Hl I go to oii'ei of -those wrciteh-c.t places.' ' However, ft" the touts aiucl proprietors of 'the dens- can do> anythijUg, thn victim lis never dropped unitil she or lie is bled \o the uttermost farthing The following ida-y one of the vampire women calls round at Hihe fla(b of the viiiftim, cajoles her to oome in a motor, and then stops .'it, a. very unsuspdous house, say in John street, May fair, where she is lunching wjffch some frienda.

"Won'li yo-a. come 'in dear?" she asks the fleeced one sweetly. "Dear, r ' protests, hut, after a good deal of persuasion. goes- upstairs, partakes of a most excellent lunch, and in 'then informed, as though a great favour was be:ing done, that there w'ilj be a littles "play" upstairs. Wll she come up? No, no nlr>! pr<#.-ips!t« the "pigeon." "I swore last night J wonll never gam hie again as long as I iiived." "Well, just come upstairs and watch 1 Ut,'. play for it little while." Thi'. i*es.t is easy; i|fc; 'is Ijlie old, okl r-tory of the moth and! the cmndle. The v?cfl/in watches tho gambling for «. few minutes, sees 'iarga sums changing lia.nd.s-, Vttikes a seat at tho table, and remains there untiil all her money is gone or untiil the keeper of the cagnofc commences to ik»o>k askance at the. pile cf 1.0.U.'s which may, or may not, be redeemed, at, some fnvur". '"date. , Kuormous profits are made by the keeper ov the eagnot who takes a, cornea issUm of anything from 2s (id to 5s in every £ sUikeid. A't one of the ultra-fatthi'omible Mayfa'T houses it is nothing uncommon -fov as mucin as L 1UI) to bo made ;m one nfight- hy the keeper ol.' the oa-giiot, so It will be, recognised thati! the player has very little. chance of wjnu'ing any bluing in tho lung run. That is, of course, when tho ii'a.me is played* stra|ight, which is not always the ease. liH .am-'s of eo-los-al losses are common enough. 'One woman. lelift, a-for-tuii.' by a (saua-d,iau rela'h ve. lias lost L'lo,ooo -in three four months. Shell a v idvont. .-C/.'QOO )e,i'l and goes on playing i-ii tl:e v.-iin delusion tha 'Cslic w'll ico.vor her 10-se.-i.