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lais Royal, under the title of _clubs_ or _salons_, a police ordinance was issued in 1785, prohibiting them from gaming, and in the following year, additional prohibitory measures were enforced. During the revolution the gaming-houses were frequently prevented and licenses withheld; but notwithstanding the rigour of the laws, and the vigilance of the police, they still contrived to exist; and they are now regularly licensed by the police, and are under its immediate inspection. The following items of twenty tables distributed about Paris (the established stake varying from a Napoleon to a sous) are from the most authentic documents:-- Current expenses 1,551,480 Francs. _Bail_ to Government 6,000,000 Francs. Bonus for the bail 166,666 Francs. Making together 7,716,146 Francs, or about L321,589 English. Gain of the tables, per annum 9,600,000 Francs. Expenses as above 7,718,146 Francs. Leaving a clear profit of 1,881,854 Francs, or about L78,244 English! And yet, in spite of this unanswerable logic of _figures and facts_, there are every day fresh victims who are infatuated enough to believe that it is possible to counterbalance the advantages which the bank possesses, by a judicious management of the power the player has of altering his stake! The revenue formerly paid to the government for licenses, has recently been transferred to the city of Paris. In England, the outcry against gaming is loud, and deservedly so; and the extent to which it is stated to be curried in the higher circles is rather underrated than exaggerated; but the severity of our laws on this crime, and recent visitations of its rigour, confine it to the saloons of wealthy vice. With us it is not a national vice, as in France, where every license, facility, and even encouragement presents itself. Lotteries, which have been abolished in England, as immoral nuisances, are tolerated in France, with more mischievous effect, since, the risk is considerably less than our least shares formerly were, the lotteries smaller, and those drawn three times every month. The relics of _our_ gaming system are only to be found on race-courses; but in France, half the toys sold at a fair or _fete_, where mothers win rattles for their children, are by _lottery_, whilst our gaming at fairs is restricted to a few low ad
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