A Plea Against the Rampant Gambling in the Regency Era. From: 1827 The Gentleman’s Magazine by Sylvanus Urban via Google Books (PD-150)

  ‘Two houses are being pulled down in St. James’ Street, presumably to add to the national disgrace which already stands there, a monumental outrage upon public decency. The affairs of a country are in the hands of political adventurers who dedicate their days and nights to a sel?sh, hideous vice, which is now risen to such a height among us as to require palaces for its orgies.  The vice of gaming becomes more and more appalling every day and the efforts of the press have been of no help in stopping those who seem impenetrable to shame, yet as long as our voice can reach the public ear, never will we cease to raise it against the most base and demoralizing system with which a country, laying claim to any thing like honesty and virtue, either public or private, ever was afflicted.

       Every man, as he passes this ‘whitened sepulcher, is astonished at the folly and wickedness that has meant that a building of such magni?cence can be afforded. The irony is that the law can close down flash houses and other thieves dens, yet the huge gaming houses of the wealthier classes are allowed to grow and expand.  There is no fair play at these hells, or clubs, and by the nature of his occupation a gamester must be a rogue.  A gentleman sitting for long hours at a card or hazard table doesn’t consider himself a bad husband, father, son, brother, and friend because he is cursed with a disease that leads to selfishness and greed. English women are called upon to not stand by and watch the downfall of families, but step in and stop the men of their acquaintance visiting the gaming hells.