- Name Article: Former Gambler Proves Sucker hasn’t Chance
- Author: Dale Burgess
- Year: 1932
- Published in: The Muncie Evening Press
- Location: Muncie, Indiana, USA
Former Gambler Proves Sucker hasn’t Chance by Dale Burgess
The Muncie Evening Press was published in Muncie, Indiana, Monday, June 20, 1932
It’s the first time I’ve come across any evidence that Klondike Solitaire was also played in gambling houses. There were of course many indications in books, but never as concrete as to how it is described in this newspaper article from 1932.
Dale Burgess and another press reporter are interviewing a former professional gambler where operators of gambling houses (gamblers) were supposedly cheating the “suckers” out of their money with Solitaire.
“The former Gambler, who has since quit the game, proved to us that any outsider who enters a gambling house is a lamb waiting to be shorn. and when he wins it only to inveigle larger prey into the Gambler’s pitfall”
About Klondike Solitaire
“The man whom I and the other reporter interviewed, talked mostly of Klondike Solitaire and poker- the most popular games among Gamblers. In Klondike Solitaire the victim pays $52 for a pack of cards and plays solitaire. If he succeeds in playing more than 26 cards, he receives $5 for each card played. If the game were operated on the level, the solitaire player would get an even break. On occasion he might win. The ex-gambler explained however that Klondike Solitaire is a poor game to play in a gambling house. The Gambler demonstrated that in shuffling the cards, the dealer can group the cards in any manner he wishes. In Klondike Solitaire he places 2 aces, two deuces and 2 ten spots together in the deck. It’s so then impossible for the player to win. The former Gambler then demonstrated that poker is just as dangerous.”