After the restoration of the Bourbons, it became quite evident that play in the Empire had been quite as Napoleonic in its vigour and dimensions as any other 'idea' of the epoch.
The following detail of the public gaming tables of Paris was published in a number of the Bibliotheque Historique, 1818, under the title of 'Budget of Public Games.'
STATE OF THE ANNUAL EXPENSES OF THE GAMES OF PARIS.
These 20 Tables are divided into nine houses, four of which are
situated in the Palais Royal.
To serve the seven tables of Trente-et-un, there are:—francs
28 Dealers, at 550 fr. a month, making . . . . 15,400
28 Croupiers, at 380. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,640
42 Assistants, at 200. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,400
SERVICE FOR THE NINE ROULETTES AND ONE PASSE-DIX.
80 Dealers, at 275 fr. a month . . . . . . . . 22,000
60 Assistants, at 150. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,000
SERVICE OF THE CRAPS, BIRIBI, AND HAZARD,
12 Dealers, at 300 fr. a month. . . . . . . . . 3,600
12 Inspectors, at 120 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,440
10 Aids, at 100. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,000
6 Chefs de Partie at the principal houses, at
700 fr. a month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,200
3 Chefs de Partie for the Roulettes, at
500 fr. a month. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,500
20 Secret Inspectors, at 200 fr. a month. . . . . .4,000
1 Inspector-General, at . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,000
130 Waiters, at 75 fr. a month. . . . . . . . . . .9,750
Cards a month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,500
Beer and refreshments, a month. . . . . . . . . . .3,000
Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5,500
Refreshment for the grand saloon, including two
dinners every week, per month . . . . . . . . . 12,000
Total expense of each month . . . .113,930
————-
Multiplied by twelve, is. . . . . . . . . . . .1,367,160
Rent of 10 Houses, per annum. . . . . . . . . . .130,000
Expense of Offices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000
————-
Total per annum. . . . . . . . . 1,547,160
If the `privilege' or license is . . . . . . . 6,000,000
If a bonus of a million is given for six years, the
sixth part, or one year, will be . . . . . . . 166,666
————-
Total expenditure . . . . . . . .7,713,826
The profits are estimated at, per month,. . . . .800,000
————-
Which yield, per annum, . . . . . . . . . . . .9,600,000
Deducting the expenditure . . . . . . . . . . .7,713,826
————-
The annual profits are. . . . . . . . . . . fr.1,886,174
————-
Thus giving the annual profit at L7860 sterling.
We omit the profits resulting from the watering-places,
amounting to fr. 200,000.
One of the new conditions imposed on the Paris gaming houses is the exclusion of females.
Thus, at Paris, the Palais Royal, Frascati, and numerous other places, presented gaming houses, whither millions of wretches crowded in search of fortune, but, for the most part, to find only ruin or even death by suicide or duelling, so often resulting from quarrels at the gaming table.
This state of things was, however, altered in the year 1836, at the proposition of M. B. Delessert, and all the gaming houses were ordered to be closed from the 1st of January, 1838, so that the present gambling in France is on the same footing as gambling in England,—utterly prohibited, but carried on in secret.