George Thompson Hare

“ Collectors find little difficulty in getting support from the public. The staking public runs no risk except that of losing their stakes if the police raids the lottery. As soon, therefore, as the new form of Chap-ji-ki lottery caught on in Singapore, the managers of the chief Kongsi made piles of money whilst the gambling fever lasted. ”

“ The post of a collector is naturally one of considerable trust and confidence, for the collectors have to pay the winnings to their clients and if they did not do this honestly or if they combined with the manager to cheat the stakers the lottery would have been impossible. ”

“ The manager has always one or two partners amongst the collectors. On each occasion a lottery is held these partners are told beforehand where the next place of meeting will be; the other collectors then go next day to the residence of the ladies in partnership with the manager and find out where they are all to assemble for the day's gambling. Sometimes when the police are particularly active the manager will not even tell the partners where the lottery is to be opened. ”

“ Very rarely now, if ever, are the Chap-ji-ki cards themselves used. Occasionally twelve particular cards are selected from the straits China-born Malay cards, called Chi-ki cards, and these particular twelve cards are then used to represent the twelve Chap-ji-ki carda.
When the collectors have got in all their stakes, they all assemble at a certain place, at a certain time. This place is always fixed beforehand by the manager; and each collector finds her own way there by herself by a different way. ”

“ In a word, this lottery is won by guessing rightly one out of twelve cards selected from a pack of ordinary Chinese playing cards.
This new form of lottery has within the space of the last twelve months become immensely popular amongst Chinese ladies in Singapore, owing to the popularity of the game and the passion for gambling it excites; the losses that have been incurred have done great harm to and caused much distress and trouble amongst the families of the Chinese resident in Singapore. ”

“ She merely tells the collectors to meet at one of her partner's houses. In such cases the manager later on will go to the place where all the collectors have slowly assembled, and call in on the way and tell them to follow in small groups to such and such a place. The manager then leads the way to the place selected. One day the manager will go to Tanjong Pagar, the next day to Serangoon, and the day after to Teluk Ayer Street. The lottery is never opened in any place more than once at a time. In fact these places change every day. ”

“ Asiatic ladies of the upper classes have much spare time on their hands and they are always fascinated by the excitement of gambling, When this excitement degenerates into a vice, diamond jewelry and clothing are freely staked or pawned to get funds to stake with. ”

“ The solvency of these Chap-ji-ki lotteries was well secured, and commanded the confidence of the female staking public. The husband of the manager may have had sufficient funds to inspire confidence. If he was not a capitalist, two or three ladies of position and property would let it be publicly known that they would be responsible for-so and-so's lottery ”

“ The collectors or agents receive the money staked from private houses or from friends of theirs whom they allow to do a kind of sub-commission work for them, and wrap it up in packets (hong) . On these packets they place symbolic marks to represent the value of the stakes. ”

“ Roughly speaking the daily total amount won at these three chief lotteries now was about from $300 to $500 or more, and the daily total profit of the managers was large. In some of the lotteries there is no limit to the amount that can be staked. Others are limited. ”