"skin" games (cheating games) are practised.

`In the gambling house in Broadway, near the New York Hotel, I
have often noticed a young man, apparently of some 18 or 20 years
of age, fashionably dressed, and of prepossessing appearance. On
some days he would play very high, and seemed to have most
remarkable luck; but he always played with the air of an old
gamester, seeming careless as to whether he won or lost. One
night he lost so heavily that he attracted the notice of all the
players; every stake of his was swept away; and he still played
on until his last dollar was lost; then he quietly walked out,
whistling a popular Yankee air. He was there next day
_MINUS_ his great-coat and watch and chain--he lost again, went
out and returned in his shirt sleeves, having pawned his coat,
studs, and everything he could with decency divest himself of.
He lost everything; and when I next saw him he was selling
newspapers in front of the post-office!

`The mania for gambling is a most singular one. I have known a
man to win a thousand dollars in a few hours, and yet he would
not spend a dollar to get a dinner, but when he felt hungry he
went to a baker's shop and bought a loaf of bread, and that same
night lost all his money at Roulette.

`There is another house on the corner of Centre and Grand
Streets, open during night and day. The stakes here are the same
as in the one in Broadway, and the people who play are very much
the same--in fact, the same faces are constantly to be met with
in all the gambling houses, from the highest to the lowest. When
a gambler has but small capital, he will go to a small house,