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If the man with the list was stopped, he could claim he had just picked it up on the street.
There would be a third officer of the society on the street with a porcelain box containing the winning character. In front of observers he would break the box, exhibit the paper and proclaim the winning character. The winner would receive $30 for every $1 he had wagered.
While tse-fa could be conducted easily on the streets, fan-tan was usually played indoors. There would be agents about the entrance to the establishments to persuade the passer-by to try his luck. Strangers in the Colony were particular objects of solicitation. Once inside, every inducement would be made to keep the victim there. According to Dr. Ho Kai, the patron would be plied "with tea heavily drugged, medicated tobacco and such fiendish devices."
He then went on to describe the effect of gambling on women. "Speaking with all due respect, I cannot help thinking that the Chinese ladies are the most helpless of all human beings, this makes the sin of those who victimise them all the more hateful, and it behoves us as men to protect them as far as it is in our power from the pit-falls which those heartless wretches have prepared for their destruction. Most Chinese ladies are easily persuaded to vary their retired and monotonous life by a little excitement like gambling; but alas, little do they know, when they once begin to gamble, they are taking the first step forward on the road that leads to their ruin,”
The speaker graphically described how, having lost all their money, the women begin to borrow from friends and relatives using any excuse that might open purse-strings.
After this source of funds has been exhausted through too frequent requests, the pawnbroker becomes the gambler's friend. To him she entrusts jewellery, clothing, furniture, anything she can get that has marketable value. But eventually the time of reckoning comes.