Chapter 79

Gambling and Prize-Fighting

One should not engage in gambling, which increases anger and greed. It is a begetter of wicked men, cruel, and a destroyer of men's wealth. // K_933 //

Because strife certainly arises from gambling, as poison from a serpent's mouth, therefore the king should suppress it in his domain, for it is a vice. // K_934 //

If it is conducted openly, with a gate and an archway, the king should make it a source of revenue, for the purpose of preventing deception among respectable people. // K_935 //

The gaming-house keeper (sabhika) should conduct the gambling and should himself give the king's share. He should take a ten percent profit from the loser's stake. // K_936 //

He should give the winner his own property, and what is to be taken from the loser should be collected within three fortnights, or immediately by the gaming-house keeper from the gambler; there is no doubt. // K_937 //

In gambling, the players may be of one or two kinds. Victory is seen to belong to him under whose authority the game is conducted. // K_938 //

Or, the gambler, having given the king his prescribed share, may gamble openly; in this way, no fault is incurred. // K_939 //

The gaming-house keeper should forcibly make the loser pay what is due in that place, and not otherwise. The legal process in a gambling dispute depends on the word of the gaming-house keeper. // K_940 //

An unskilled player who is defeated should be released; a skilled player defeated in secret should not be released. If all is won from a skilled player, he should not be made to give up all his property. // K_941 //

In a dispute, in victory or loss, and in the case of fraudulent gamblers, the gaming-house keeper is the authority, provided that the keeper is honest. // K_942 //

For barbarians, outcastes, rogues, gamblers, and ascetics, the decision regarding their established practices rests with them, not with the king. // K_943 //