PROGRESS IN THE GAMING TRADE.
In the minor gaming houses the players assembled in parties of
from 40 to 50 persons, who probably brought on an average, each
night, from one to twenty shillings to play with. As the money
was lost, the losers fell off, if they could not borrow or beg
more; and this went on sometimes in the winter season for 14 to
16 hours in succession; so that from 100 to 150 persons might be
calculated to visit one gaming table in the course of a night;
and it not unfrequently happened that ultimately all the money
brought to the table got into the hands of one or two of the most
fortunate adventurers, save that which was paid to the table for
`box-hands' — that is, when a player won three times in
succession. At these establishments the price of a box varied
from one shilling to half-a-crown. Every man thus engaged was
destined to become either a more finished and mischievous
gambler, or to appear at the bar of the Old Bailey. The
successful players by degrees improved their external appearance,
and obtained admittance into
houses of higher
play, where two shillings and sixpence or three shillings and
fourpence was demanded for the box-hand. If success attended
them in the first step of advancement, they next got initiated
into better houses, and associated with gamblers of a higher
grade.
