Chapter 53: Overstepping

With a bang, the door opened. The big man inside stood with his hands on his hips, looking at Enio, "This isn't a playground. You coming in and out all the time will attract some unnecessary trouble. Do you understand what I mean?"

In the Federation, casinos require a special operating license to be opened, so most of these casinos are illegal.

Because of special geographical and environmental factors, sailors and travelers from all over the world stay in New Jincheng, so the state government specially approved New Jincheng to operate casinos.

But the prerequisite is that one must possess all the paperwork and the special operating license.

Taxes on legal casinos are very high. Eighty-three percent of the income from the legal casino business operated by the Koda family in New Jincheng needs to be handed over to the three levels of government.

That is, the local government, the state government, and the federal government.

For the Koda family, the net profit is only about nine percent.

But even if it's only nine percent, it has earned them unimaginable wealth. If there is any family in all of New Jincheng that is the "cleanest," the Koda family might be one of them.

They don't operate other criminal businesses, like smuggling, kidnapping, extortion, or collecting protection fees. They can't say they don't do it at all, but basically, unless necessary, they won't do it themselves.

Because the profits from the casino can satisfy their demands for wealth. Compared to the other families whose every pore flows with black blood, they are as benevolent as missionaries!

And precisely because casinos have huge profits, the Koda family's attitude toward illegal casinos is even more severe and terrifying than the government's.

To ensure their dominant position in the gambling industry in New Jincheng, once an illegal casino is discovered by them, there are only two paths to take.

Either they arrange for someone to manage the accounts, and seventy percent of all income must be handed over to the Koda family as an "authorization" fee to continue operating the casino.

Or, after being forced to pay back a large sum of money, they are driven out of New Jincheng and not allowed to return.

These are the two choices they give people, but actually, there is a third path to take.

Conflict, a shootout, and then, amidst the experts shouting about miracles, the water level of Angel Lake rises again, goddammit!

Whichever one it is, it's not what a small casino wants. To avoid risks, they change locations every so often and filter out some guests.

Enio took the cigarette Lans gave him from his pocket and handed it over, "I went out to buy a pack of cigarettes."

The big man looked at the cigarette in his hand, then looked at Enio, and finally stepped aside to leave a slit, "You'd better not make things difficult for me."

Enio said thank you and returned to the casino.

The degenerate gambler was already standing at the gambling table again, waving banknotes in his hand and betting at the blackjack table.

People like this gambling game, perhaps also because it looks... fair, at least fairer than the others should be.

The gambler's luck was not bad; he had already won twelve dollars when he came in. It looked like he had already won back the money he lost.

Enio didn't care much, because even if he wanted to pay back the money early, the interest that should be paid must still be paid.

The noisy environment, the smell of cigarettes, sweat, bad breath, and foot odor wove a cage of desire in the basement, firmly netting everyone here!

By night, they had finished four deals and earned fourteen dollars.

Not everyone is willing to borrow a hundred dollars; many people only borrow thirty or fifty, so relatively speaking, the commission isn't that much.

But even so, fourteen dollars still kept these young people in a state of excitement!

They just stood here for a while, then saw someone lose all their money and asked if the other party wanted to borrow money. They didn't actually put in any effort at all!

Money, it's really easy to make; this was their only thought at this moment.

Of course, perhaps this feeling wasn't as strong for someone like Mo Lisi, after all, his mother only needed ten-plus minutes to earn three dollars—that damn cold joke.

After dark, the casino business became a bit better, but Enio left with his companions. The company was off work, and Lans had also gone home.

Today, Enio's few deals made Lans decide to rent a house nearby and open a "branch."

Something for two or three dollars a month would do; after all, it wasn't for people to enjoy, just to make money.

After the casino closed at night, several dealers sat together and started chatting, "Do you know? The gambler lost over a hundred dollars today."

The blackjack dealer couldn't help but laugh and share today's happy event. They are people with "skills." To ensure the dealer can win, every time they shuffle, they put three tens at the very bottom of the deck.

This way, they can control who busts and who doesn't at any time.

If someone has been studying this, they will find that most of the time, the betting area with the most bets has a high probability of busting.

At the same time, to ensure they can win in games with a large total bet, they will always ensure the first card of the deck is an Ace.

In blackjack, an "A" can represent one or eleven.

As long as the first and last cards are drawn, the dealer sweeps everything.

It's just that most of the time, gamblers focus on the current hand; they can't tell if the dealer has cheated.

Speaking of this, the others also clicked their tongues in wonder. It is indeed rare for someone to lose over a hundred at once in this kind of small casino.

More often, losing five or ten dollars is more common, because it's a small underground casino; even if someone wants to gamble big, it's not allowed.

Each table can bet at most ten dollars. Limiting the upper limit of the bet is partly to protect the casino itself, and partly to avoid someone getting desperate.

"Where did he get so much money?", the casino boss asked curiously while gnawing on a beef bone.

He knew most of the people in this casino. He also knew the gambler they were talking about; every time he came, he would count two or three dollars and leave.

This time, losing over a hundred at once, he also found it hard to believe.

The dealer shook his head, "Don't know. He went out for a trip, and when he came back, he had money."

Other dealers seemed to remember something, "I also had someone here who went out for a trip after losing everything, and when he came back, he had money again."

The casino boss put down the bone in his hand and wiped his mouth, "Find someone you know to come over and ask. This matter needs to be clarified."

If someone commits a crime to raise money for gambling, the one who ends up unlucky is still him and his casino.

Police love raiding illegal casinos the most, because not only can they take away all the cash on the scene, but they can also extort a large sum from the operator!

To reduce their sentencing in court, most casino operators will cooperate with police extortion.

The abnormal performance of these people had already made the casino boss somewhat alert.

Soon, they found one of the guys and brought him over.

"How much money did you lose today?"

Because everyone is an Imperial citizen, although the casino boss wins their money every day, he isn't the kind of vicious person. Most of the time, he is very easygoing and easy to talk to, so everyone isn't very afraid of him.

The gambler curled his lips, "Lost thirty-seven dollars!"

The casino boss wanted to laugh but held it back. From this thirty-seven dollars, after removing the almost non-existent operating costs, the commission for the dealer, the wages for the thugs, and daily consumption, his net profit was about twenty-five dollars.

A fool contributed twenty-five dollars to him in one day; he found it hard to imagine how much the Koda family could earn every day!

No wonder some people say they are cash cows, and no wonder they have such good relationships with those councilors!

"What a pity. It seems your luck today isn't very good. Since your luck is so terrible, why do you still gamble so much?"

"I remember you still have half a month until payday. You wouldn't have gone out to steal things to exchange for money to play cards here, would you?"

The casino boss looked at him, "You know, what I hate most is people bringing bad things from outside into my casino."

Several thugs also stood up. Those big men didn't even need to do anything to be scary, not to mention they were all staring at him with wide eyes now.

The gambler confessed quickly, "I borrowed thirty-five dollars."

The casino boss looked at the others, "How come I didn't know someone borrowed money today?"

His tone carried a sense of chilling anger. He thought someone was playing tricks; these are all taboos in the casino.

And he stipulated that they couldn't borrow too much. If they borrowed too much and gamblers lost too much, they might cause trouble, which would also lead to trouble.

Once a problem arises, it will implicate him!

The person responsible for the accounts looked blank, "I don't know. No one came to the counter to get money today."

Several other dealers also shook their heads, and the thugs were even less likely.

The boss looked at the gambler, "You'd better explain clearly. You know my rules here."

Anyway, this had nothing to do with the gambler, so he wouldn't hide anything, "Mo Lisi brought a few young people and lent it to me. The interest is very low, and the way of paying back is very flexible..."

The boss looked at the big man responsible for guarding the door. That guy touched the cigarette in his pocket and finally nodded, "He said he brought a few friends to see the world."

The casino boss's face had a few more smiles. He put some uneaten beef bones on a plate and gave them to the gambler, "Sorry to trouble you to make a trip. Take it back for the kids to eat."

The gambler was pleasantly surprised and thanked him repeatedly, "Your generosity is as warm as the sun..."

"Haha, although you speak very nicely, I won't pay you back the money you lost!"

At this time, the gambler's stance also changed quickly, and he said somewhat gritting his teeth, "If it weren't for them insisting on lending me money, I wouldn't have lost so much!"

After sending away the rambling gambler, the casino boss picked his teeth with a steel rod, his face showing no emotion, "Someone has overstepped..."

1: Long-term work by dealers leads to fatigue and increased hand sweat. Controlling multiple cards when dealing becomes gradually difficult, but one card is easy to control, so it is often the first card of the deck, and multiple cards at the end. ===== CHAPTER 54 =====