When we have made our love and gamed our gaming, Drest, voted, shone, and maybe something more; With dandies dined, heard senators declaiming, Seen beauties brought to market by the score, Sad rakes to sadder husbands chastely taming, There’s little left but to be bored or bore. Witness those ci-devant jeunes hommes who stem The stream, nor leave the world which leaveth them.
Mr. Gardiner did not write again till he had received an answer from Colonel Forster; and then he had nothing of a pleasant nature to send. It was not known that Wickham had a single relationship with whom he kept up any connection, and it was certain that he had no near one living. His former acquaintances had been numerous; but since he had been in the militia, it did not appear that he was on terms of particular friendship with any of them. There was no one, therefore, who could be pointed out as likely to give any news of him. And in the wretched state of his own finances, there was a very powerful motive for secrecy, in addition to his fear of discovery by Lydia's relations, for it had just transpired that he had left gaming debts behind him to a very considerable amount. Colonel Forster believed that more than a thousand pounds would be necessary to clear his expenses at Brighton. He owed a good deal in town, but his debts of honour were still more formidable. Mr. Gardiner did not attempt to conceal these particulars from the Longbourn family. Jane heard them with horror. "A gamester!" she cried. "This is wholly unexpected. I had not an idea of it."
Meanwhile M. Cavalcanti the elder had returned to his service, not in the army of his majesty the Emperor of Austria, but at the gaming-table of the baths of Lucca, of which he was one of the most assiduous courtiers. He had spent every farthing that had been allowed for his journey as a reward for the majestic and solemn manner in which he had maintained his assumed character of father. M. Andrea at his departure inherited all the papers which proved that he had indeed the honor of being the son of the Marquis Bartolomeo and the Marchioness Oliva Corsinari. He was now fairly launched in that Parisian society which gives such ready access to foreigners, and treats them, not as they really are, but as they wish to be considered. Besides, what is required of a young man in Paris? To speak its language tolerably, to make a good appearance, to be a good gamester, and to pay in cash. They are certainly less particular with a foreigner than with a Frenchman. Andrea had, then, in a fortnight, attained a very fair position. He was called count, he was said to possess 50,000 livres per annum; and his father's immense riches, buried in the quarries of Saravezza, were a constant theme. A learned man, before whom the last circumstance was mentioned as a fact, declared he had seen the quarries in question, which gave great weight to assertions hitherto somewhat doubtful, but which now assumed the garb of reality.
The following list of lawful games, sports and exercises is given in _Oliphant on Horses, &c._ (6th ed.): horse-races, steeplechases, trotting matches, coursing matches, foot-races, boat-races, regattas, rowing matches, golf, wrestling matches, cricket, tennis, fives, rackets, bowls, skittles, quoits, curling, putting the stone, football, and presumably every bona-fide variety, e.g. croquet, knurr and spell, hockey or any similar games. Cock-fighting is said to have been unlawful at common law, and that and other modes of setting animals to fight are offences against the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Acts. The following are also lawful games: whist and other lawful games at cards, backgammon, bagatelle, billiards, chess, draughts and dominoes. But to allow persons to play for money at these games or at skittles or "skittle pool" or "puff and dart" on licensed premises is gaming within the Licensing Act 1872. The earlier acts declared unlawful the following games of skill: football, quoits, putting the stone, kails, tennis, bowls, clash or kails, or cloyshcayls, logating, half bowl, slide-thrift or shove-groat and backgammon. Backgammon and other games in 1739 played with backgammon tables were treated as lawful in that year. Horse-racing, long under restriction, being mentioned in the act of 1665 and many 18th-century acts, was fully legalized in 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 35). The act of 1541, so far as it declared any game of mere skill unlawful, was repealed by the Gaming Act 1845. Billiards is legal in private houses or clubs and in public places duly licensed. The following games have been declared by the statutes or the judges to be unlawful, whether played in public or in private, unless played in a royal palace where the sovereign is residing: ace of hearts, pharaoh (faro), basset and hazard (1738), passage, and every game then invented or to be invented with dice or with any other instrument, engine or device in the nature of dice having one or more figures or numbers thereon (1739), roulet or roly-poly (1744), and all lotteries (except Art Union lotteries), _rouge et noir_, _baccarat-banque_ (1884), _chemin de fer_ (1895), and all games at cards which are not games of mere skill. The definition of unlawful game does not include whist played for a prize not subscribed to by the players, but it does include playing cards for money in licensed premises; even in the private room of the licensee or with private friends during closing hours. Entry: GAMING
_United States._--In the United States many of the states make gaming a penal offence when the bet is upon an election, or a horse race, or a game of hazard. Betting contracts and securities given upon a bet are often made void, and this may destroy a gaming note in the hands of an innocent purchaser for value. The subject lies outside of the province of the federal government. By the legislation of some states the loser may recover his money if he sue within a limited time, as he might have done in England under 9 Anne c. 19. Entry: GAMING
"Chance," in the theory of probability, is used in two ways. In the stricter, or mathematical usage, it is synonymous with probability; i.e. if a particular event may occur in n ways in an aggregate of p events, then the "chance" of the particular event occurring is given by the fraction _n/p_. In the second usage, the "chance" is regarded as the ratio of the number of ways which a particular event may occur to the number of ways in which it may not occur; mathematically expressed, this chance is _n/(p-n)_ (see PROBABILITY). In the English law relating to gaming and wagering a distinction is drawn between games of chance and games of skill (see GAMING AND WAGERING). Entry: CHANCE
The time and manner of the introduction of cards into Europe are matters of dispute. The 38th canon of the council of Worcester (1240) is often quoted as evidence of cards having been known in England in the middle of the 13th century; but the games _de rege et regina_ there mentioned are now thought to have been a kind of mumming exhibition (Strutt says chess). No queen is found in the earliest European cards. In the wardrobe accounts of Edward I. (1278), Walter Stourton is paid 8s. 3d. _ad opus regis ad ludendum ad quatuor reges_, a passage which has been thought to refer to cards, but it is now supposed to mean chess, which may have been called the "game of four kings," as was the case in India (_chaturaji_). If cards were generally known in Europe as early as 1278, it is very remarkable that Petrarch, in his dialogue that treats of gaming, never once mentions them; and that, though Boccaccio, Chaucer and other writers of that time notice various games, there is not a single passage in them that can be fairly construed to refer to cards. Passages have been quoted from various works, of or relative to this period, but modern research leads to the supposition that the word rendered _cards_ has often been mistranslated or interpolated. An early mention of a distinct series of playing cards is the entry of Charles or Charbot Poupart, treasurer of the household of Charles VI. of France, in his book of accounts for 1392 or 1393, which runs thus: _Donné à Jacquemin Gringonneur, peintre, pour trois jeux de cartes, à or et à diverses couleurs, ornés de plusieurs devises, pour porter devers le Seigneur Roi, pour son êbatement, cinquante-six sols parisis_. This, of course, refers only to the painting of a set or pack of cards, which were evidently already well known. But, according to various conjectural interpretations of documents, the earliest date of the mention of cards has been pushed farther back by different authorities. For instance, in the account-books of Johanna, duchess of Brabant, and her husband, Wenceslaus of Luxemburg, there is an entry, under date of the 14th of May 1379, as follows: "Given to Monsieur and Madame four peters, two florins, value eight and a half moutons, wherewith to buy a pack of cards" (_Quartspel met te copen_). This proves their introduction into the Netherlands at least as early as 1379. In a British Museum MS. (Egerton, 2, 419) mention is made of a game of cards (_qui ludus cartarum appellatur_) in Germany in 1377. The safe conclusion with regard to their introduction is that, though they may possibly have been known to a few persons in Europe about the middle of the 14th century, they did not come into general use until about a half-century later. Whence they came is another question that has not yet been answered satisfactorily. If we may believe the evidence of Covelluzzo of Viterbo (15th century) cards were introduced into Italy from Arabia. On the authority of a chronicle of one of his ancestors he writes: "In the year 1379 was brought into Viterbo the game of cards, which comes from the country of the Saracens, and is with them called _naib_." The Crusaders, who were inveterate gamblers, may have been the instruments of their introduction (see _Istoria della città di Viterbo_, by F. Bussi, Rome, 1743). According to other authorities, cards came first to Spain from Africa with the Moors, and it is significant that, to this day, playing cards are called in Spain _naipes_ (probably a corruption of the Arabic _Nabi_, prophet). Taken in connexion with the statement of Covelluzzo, this fact would seem to prove the wide popularity of the game of _naib_, or cards, among the Arab tribes. The meaning of the word (prophet) has been suggested to refer to the fortune-telling function of cards, and the theory has been advanced that they were used by the Moorish gypsies for that purpose. Gypsies are, however, not known to have appeared in Spain before the 15th century, at a time when cards were already well known. In regard to the word _naib_, the Italian language still preserves the name _naibi_, playing cards. Entry: CARDS
As already stated, the keeping of a gaming-house was at common law punishable only if a public nuisance were created. The act of 1541 imposes penalties on persons maintaining houses for unlawful games. Originally licences could be obtained for such houses, but these were abolished in 1555 (2 & 3 Phil. and Mar.). In 1698 lotteries were declared public nuisances, and in 1802 the same measure was meted out to lotteries known as little-goes. Special penalties are provided for those who set up lotteries or any unlawful game with cards or dice, &c. (1738, 1739, 1744). In 1751 inhabitants of a parish were enabled to insist on the prosecution of gaming-houses. The act of 1802 imposed severe penalties on persons publicly or privately keeping places for any lottery. This statute hits at the deliberate or habitual use of a place for the prohibited purpose, and does not touch isolated or incidental uses on a single occasion, e.g. at a bazaar or show; but under an act of 1823 the sale of lottery tickets is in itself an offence. The Gaming Act 1845 facilitates the search of suspected gaming-houses and the proof that they are such. It provides that, to prove any house to be a common gaming-house, it "shall be sufficient to show that it is kept or used for playing therein at any unlawful game, and that a bank is kept there by one or more of the players exclusively of the others, or that the chances of any game played therein are not alike favourable to all the players, including among the players the banker or other person by whom the game is managed, or against whom the other players stake, play or bet." Gambling, it will be noticed, is still in this definition connected with some kind of game. The act also provides that proof that the gaming was for money shall not be required, and that the presence of cards, dice and other instruments of gaming shall be prima-facie evidence that the house was used as a common gaming-house. The most recent statute dealing with gaming-houses is of 1854, which provides summary remedies against the keeper and makes further provisions to facilitate conviction. It may be added that the Gaming Act 1845 makes winning money by cheating at any game or wager punishable in the same way as obtaining money by false pretences. At the present time proceedings for keeping gaming-houses in the sense in which that word is commonly understood are comparatively rare, and are usually against foreigners. The statutes hit both public and private gaming-houses (see the Park Club case, _Jenks_ v. _Turpin_, 1884, 13 Q.B.D. 505, the leading case on unlawful games). The proprietor and the person who keeps the bank at an unlawful game are both within the statute: the players are not, but the act of Henry VIII. is so far alive that they can be put under recognizance not to frequent gaming-houses. Under the Licensing Act 1872 penalties are incurred by licensed victuallers who suffer any gaming or unlawful game to be played on their premises. A single instance of playing an unlawful game for money in a private house is not within the statutes (_R_. v. _Davies_, 1897, 2 Q.B. 199). Entry: GAMING
DICE (plural of die, O. Fr. _de_, derived from Lat. _dare_, to give), small cubes of ivory, bone, wood or metal, used in gaming. The six sides of a die are each marked with a different number of incised dots in such a manner that the sum of the dots on any two opposite sides shall be 7. Dice seem always to have been employed, as is the case to-day, for gambling purposes, and they are also used in such games as backgammon. There are many methods of playing, from one to five dice being used, although two or three are the ordinary numbers employed in Great Britain and America. The dice are thrown upon a table or other smooth surface either from the hand or from a receptacle called a dice-box, the latter method having been in common use in Greece, Rome and the Orient in ancient times. Dice-boxes have been made in many shapes and of various materials, such as wood, leather, agate, crystal, metal or paper. Many contain bars within to ensure a proper agitation of the dice, and thus defeat trickery. Some, formerly used in England, were employed with unmarked dice, and allowed the cubes to fall through a kind of funnel upon a board marked off into six equal parts numbered from 1 to 6. It is a remarkable fact, that, wherever dice have been found, whether in the tombs of ancient Egypt, of classic Greece, or of the far East, they differ in no material respect from those in use to-day, the elongated ones with rounded ends found in Roman graves having been, not dice but _tali_, or knucklebones. Eight-sided dice have comparatively lately been introduced in France as aids to children in learning the multiplication table. The teetotum, or spinning die, used in many modern games, was known in ancient times in China and Japan. The increased popularity of the more elaborate forms of gaming has resulted in the decline of dicing. The usual method is to throw three times with three dice. If one or more sixes or fives are thrown the first time they may be reserved, the other throws being made with the dice that are left. The object is to throw three sixes = 18 or as near that number as possible, the highest throw winning, or, when drinks are to be paid for, the lowest throw losing. (For other methods of throwing consult the _Encyclopaedia of Indoor Games_, by R. F. Foster, 1903.) The most popular form of pure gambling with dice at the present day, particularly with the lower classes in America, is _Craps_, or _Crap-Shooting_, a simple form of _Hazard_, of French origin. Two dice are used. Each player puts up a stake and the first caster may cover any or all of the bets. He then _shoots_, i.e. throws the dice from his open hand upon the table. If the sum of the dice is 7 or 11 the throw is a _nick_, or _natural_, and the caster wins all stakes. If the throw is either 2, 3 or 12 it is a _crap_, and the caster loses all. If any other number is thrown it is a _point_, and the caster continues until he throws the same number again, in which case he wins, or a 7, in which case he loses. The now practically obsolete game of Hazard was much more complicated than _Craps_. (Consult _The Game of Hazard Investigated_, by George Lowbut.) _Poker dice_ are marked with ace, king, queen, jack and ten-spot. Five are used and the object is, in three throws, to make pairs, triplets, full hands or fours and fives of a kind, five aces being the highest hand. Straights do not count. In throwing to decide the payment of drinks the usual method is called _horse and horse_, in which the highest throws retire, leaving the two lowest to decide the loser by the best two in three throws. Should each player win one throw both are said to be _horse and horse_, and the next throw determines the loser. The two last casters may also agree to _sudden death_, i.e. a single throw. _Loaded dice_, i.e. dice weighted slightly on the side of the lowest number, have been used by swindlers from the very earliest times to the present day, a fact proved by countless literary allusions. Modern dice are often rounded at the corners, which are otherwise apt to wear off irregularly. Entry: DICE
The first act directed against gambling as distinct from playing games was that of 1665 (16 Car. II. c. 7) "against deceitful, disorderly and excessive gaming" which deals with games both of skill and chance at which people cheat, or play otherwise than with ready money, or lose more than £100 on credit. In 1698 (13 Will. III. c. 23) legislation was passed against lotteries, therein described as "mischievous and unlawful games." This act was amended in 1710 (9 Anne c. 6), and in the same year was passed a statute which is the beginning of the modern legislation against gambling (9 Anne c. 19). It includes within its scope money won by "gaming or playing" at cards, &c., and money won by "betting" on the sides or hands of those who game at any of the forbidden games. But it refers to tennis and bowls as well as to games with cards and dice. Entry: GAMING
BET and BETTING (probably from O. Fr. _abeter_, to instigate, Eng. "abet," i.e. with money). To "bet" is to stake money or something valuable on some future contingency. Betting in some form or other has been in vogue from the earliest days, commencing in the East with royal and noble gamblers, and gradually extending itself westwards and throughout all classes. In all countries where the English tongue is spoken betting is now largely indulged in; and in the United Kingdom it spread to such an extent amongst all grades of society, during the 19th century, that the interference of the legislature was necessary (see GAMING AND WAGERING). Bets can, of course, be made on any subject, and are a common method of backing one's opinion or skill, whether at games of cards or in any other connexion; but the commonest form of betting is associated with the turf. In the early days of horse-racing persons who wished to bet often failed to gratify their inclination because of the difficulty of finding any one ready to wager. To obviate this difficulty the professional bookmaker arose. It was perceived that if a man laid money against a number of horses, conducting his business on discreet principles, he would in all probability receive enough to pay the bettor who was successful and to leave a surplus for himself; for the "bookmaker," as the professional betting man came to be called, had enormous advantages in his favour. He was presumably shrewd and wary, whereas many of those with whom he dealt were precisely the opposite, and benefit arose to him from the mistakes and miscalculations of owners and trainers of horses, and from the innumerable accidents which occur to prevent anticipated success; moreover, if he carried out the theory of his calling he would so arrange his book, by what is called "betting to figures," that the money he received would be more than he could possibly be called upon to pay. In practice, of course, this often does not happen, because "backers" will sometimes support two or three horses in a race only, and the success of one may result in loss to the bookmaker; but in the long run it has been almost invariably found that the bookmaker grows rich and that the backer of horses loses money. It is the bookmaker who regulates the odds, and this he does, sometimes by anticipating, sometimes by noting, the desire of backers to support certain animals. Such things as stable secrets can scarcely be said to exist at the present time; the bookmaker is usually as well able as any one else to estimate the chances of the various horses engaged in races. Notwithstanding that the reports of a trial gallop are of comparatively little value to any except the few persons who know what weights the animals carried when tried, the bookmaker is extraordinarily keen, and frequently successful, in his search for information; and on this the odds depend. Entry: BET
In England, so far as the general public is concerned, gaming at cards is to a large extent superseded by betting on sports and pastimes, or speculation by means of lotteries or like devices. The legislation against betting _eo nomine_ began in 1853. In the Betting Act 1853 it is described as a kind of gaming of late sprung up to the injury and demoralization of improvident persons by the opening of places called betting houses and offices, and the receiving of money _in advance_ by the owners or occupiers or their agents on promises to pay money on events or horse races and like contingencies. This act strikes at ready money betting as distinguished from betting on credit ("on the nod"). It was avowedly framed to hit houses open to all and sundry as distinguished from private betting clubs such as Tattersall's. The act seeks to punish persons who keep a house, office, room or other place for the purpose (_inter alia_) of any person betting with persons "resorting thereto" or of receiving deposits in consideration of bets on contingencies relating to horse-races or other races, fights, games, sports or exercises. The act especially excepts persons who receive or hold prizes or stakes to be paid to the winner of a race or lawful sport, game or exercise, or to the owner of a horse engaged in a race (s. 6). Besides the penalties incurred by keeping such places, the keeper is liable to repay to depositors the sums deposited (s. 5). Entry: GAMING