“This Dreadful Vice”

"One vast casino." Such was the description of Regency England by the venerable historian G.M Trevelyan. Gaming, long popular, reached Gaming, long popular, reached a feverish peak in the early 19th century. It was ubiquitous: from the grandest country homes of the upper classes to the slums of the poorest of the poor. Wagers were the preferred way to settle many a dispute. And such activity was by no means confined to men. Socially influential women were chief purveyors of and active participants in the sporting life among the well-to-do. The gentry often engaged in “deep gaming,” continuous gambling in one place over a long period of time for high stakes, including lands—the very source of their wealth.

But then the Victorians came along and matters took a decidedly different turn. The industrious, thrifty and pious middle class had little time for anything that might be fun, especially if it sprang from the irrationality of chance. Laws that had long been dormant...