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