£l0,000 LOST NIGHTLY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 992, 7 June 1930, Page 32

£lo,ooo LOST NIGHTLY

GAMING ROBOTS More than £IO,OOO is lost in gambling machines in London every night, it is estimated. Not only exclusive night clubs in the West End, but many of the more modest social clubs have installed these machines, so profitable an investment have they proved. One night club proprietor admitted to a “Sunday Chronicle” representative that, although the three machines at his club are hired on a profit-shar-ing basis from a syndicate, they yielded enough to pay his rent, rates and taxes, and wages, and left him £6O a week for himself. There is no law to stop bona fide members of clubs from playing on these machines. They cost only £lO, and yield anything from £2O to £6O a week. Last year the net profits of one firm which has over 50 of these machines for hire was £6,000. “Many clubs now buy their machines outright,” said the club manager. “They prefer to take a. risk and have all the profits for themselves. But there is very little risk. The machines are started with £6 in case those who play on them should have a run of luck. That doesn’t often happen. “I have never known one to give out for lack of funds, even when players have had what was regarded as unusual luck.” The machines at one exclusive club are worked by means of discs of a particular pattern, which are obtainable at the cocktail bar. It is rare for players to return to the bar to change into money discs in excess of the number originally bought. More often than not more money is spent in an effort to recoup losses.