Empire of Shadows

With a bang, the door opened, and a burly man inside, hands on hips, glared at Ennio. "This isn't an amusement park. You going in and out all the time will attract unnecessary trouble. You understand what I mean?"

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Casinos require special operating licenses in the Federation, so most of these casinos are illegal.

Due to its unique geographical and environmental factors, Goldenport City sees sailors and travelers from all over the world stopping here, so the state government has specially approved Goldenport City to operate casinos.

But the prerequisite is that they must have all the procedures and special operating licenses.

The tax revenue from legitimate casinos is very high. The Kodak family, which operates legal casinos in Goldenport City, has to hand over eighty-three percent of its business income to the three levels of government.

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

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

But even with only nine percent, it has allowed them to earn unimaginable amounts of money. If there is any family in Goldenport City that is the most "clean," the Kodak family may be one of them.

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

Because the profits from casinos can satisfy their demands for wealth, compared to the other families whose every pore oozes black blood, they are as merciful as missionaries!

It is precisely because casinos have huge profits that the Kodak family's attitude towards illegal casinos is even more severe and terrifying than the government's.

To ensure their dominant position in the gambling industry in Goldenport City, illegal casinos have only two paths to take once they are discovered by them.

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

Or, they are chased out of Goldenport City after recovering a large sum of money, and are not allowed to return.

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

Conflict, infighting, and then, as the experts shout miracles, the water level of Angel Lake rises again!

Regardless of which one it is, it's not what small casinos want. To avoid risks, they change locations every once in a while and filter out some customers.

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

The burly man looked at the cigarette in his hand, then looked at Ennio, and finally stepped aside to leave a crack. "You better not make things difficult for me."

Ennio said thank you and returned to the casino.

The gambling addict was already standing at the gambling table again, waving banknotes in his hand, betting on the blackjack table.

People like this gambling game, maybe because it seems very...fair, at least it should be fairer than others.

The gambling addict was lucky. He had already won twelve dollars when he came in. It looked like he had won back the money he had lost.

Ennio didn't really care, because even if he wanted to pay back the money in advance, the interest still had to be paid.

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

By the evening, they had closed four deals and earned fourteen dollars.

Not everyone is willing to borrow a hundred dollars. Many people only borrow thirty or fifty dollars, so relatively speaking, the commissions are not that high.

But even so, fourteen dollars still gives these young people a continuous feeling of excitement!

They just stood here for a while, and then saw someone losing all their money, asking the other person if they wanted to borrow money. They didn't actually put in anything!

Money is so easy to make, this is their only thought at this time.

Of course, maybe Maurice doesn't feel that way so strongly, after all, his mother can earn three dollars in just ten minutes—that damn dark humor.

After dark, the casino's business got a little better, but Ennio took his companions away. The company was already off work, and Lance had also gone home.

Ennio's several deals today made Lance decide to rent a house nearby and open a "branch office."

Two or three dollars a month is fine, after all, it's not for people to enjoy, it's just for making money.

After the casino closed at night, several dealers sat together and chatted, "Do you know, the gambling addict lost more than 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 that the house wins, they put three ten-point cards at the bottom of the deck every time they shuffle.

This way, they can control who's hand will bust and who's hand won'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 that they win in games with a large total bet amount, they will always ensure that the first card in the deck is an Ace.

In blackjack, "A" can represent one point or eleven points.

As long as the first and last cards are drawn, the house wins all.

It's just that many times gamblers focus on the current game, and they can't tell whether the dealer is cheating or not.

Speaking of this, the others were also amazed. It is indeed rare to lose more than a hundred dollars at once in this small casino.

More often, people lose five or ten dollars. Because it is a small underground casino, even if someone wants to gamble heavily, it is not allowed.

Each table can only bet up to ten dollars. Limiting the upper limit of bets is partly to protect the casino itself, and partly to avoid someone getting desperate after losing too much.

"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 gambling addict they were talking about. He would come every time with two or three dollars and then leave.

This time, he lost more than a hundred dollars at once, which he found hard to believe.

The dealer shook his head, "I don't know, he went out for a while, and when he came back, he had money."

The other dealers seemed to have remembered something, "Someone on my side also went out after losing all their money, and when they came back, they had money again."

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

If someone commits a crime to get money to gamble, the unlucky ones in the end will still be him and his casino.

The police like to catch illegal casinos the most, because they can not only take away all the cash on the scene, but also extort a large sum from the operators!

To reduce their sentence in court, casino operators mostly cooperate with the police's extortion.

These people's abnormal behavior has already made the casino boss a little alert.

Soon, they brought one of the guys over.

"How much money did you lose today?"

Because everyone is from the Empire, although the casino boss wins their money every day, he is not the kind of vicious person. Most of the time, he is very easy-going and easy to talk to, so everyone is not very afraid of him.

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

The casino boss wanted to laugh, but he held it back. After deducting the almost non-existent operating costs from these thirty-seven dollars, as well as the dealer's share, and the wages and daily expenses of the thugs, his net profit is probably around twenty-five dollars.

A fool contributed twenty-five dollars to him in one day. He could hardly imagine how much money the Kodak family could make every day!

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

"It's a pity, it seems you weren't very lucky today. Since your luck is so bad, why did you gamble so much?"

"I remember you still have half a month before payday. You didn't go out and steal something to exchange for money to play cards here, did you?"

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

Several thugs also stood up. Those burly men didn't even need to move a finger to be scary, let alone now that they were all staring at him.

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

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

His tone carried a hint of stern anger. He thought someone was doing something behind his back, which are all taboos in the casino.

Moreover, he stipulated that not too much can be borrowed. If too much is borrowed, the gambling addicts may lose too much and cause trouble, which will also cause trouble.

Once there is a problem, it will implicate him!

The person in charge of lending money outside looked blank, "I don't know, no one came to the counter to get money today."

The other dealers also shook their heads one after another, and it was even more impossible for the thugs.

The boss looked at the gambling addict, "You better make it clear, you know my rules here."

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the gambling addict, and he won't hide anything, "Maurice and a few young people lent it to me. The interest rate is very low, and the repayment method is very flexible..."

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

The casino boss's face showed some more smiles. He put some uneaten beef bones on a plate and gave them to the gambling addict, "Please run an errand and take them back for the children to eat."

The gambling addict was a little surprised and thanked him repeatedly, "Your generosity is as warm and heartwarming as the sun..."

"Haha, although you put it nicely, I won't return the money you lost!"

At this moment, the gambler's stance also quickly shifted. Some gritted their teeth and said, "If they hadn't insisted on lending me money, I wouldn't have lost so much!"

After having someone send away the rambling gambler, the casino boss picked his teeth with a steel skewer, his face unreadable. "Someone's crossed the line..."

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①: Over time, a dealer's fatigue and sweaty hands can make it harder to control multiple cards at the top of the deck when dealing. However, a single card is easy to control, so often it's one card at the top and several at the bottom.