Gambling in Indochina. From Exploitation to Prohibition … From Prohibition to Exploitation
Author: Abderrahim-Goulon, Yanis-Jossua
Under the direction of: Eric Gojosso
University of Poitiers
Texte français
Keywords: History, Indochina, French Indochina, gambling, Prohibition, Exploitation, gaming houses, Pari mutuel, Indochinese Lottery, Gambling, Gambling houses, Gambling and crime, Colonization.
Abstract
The study of the French administration of the Indochinese Peninsula must also consider the slow nature of its construction as well as the constant search for funding resources. As usually observed in a colonization context, in Indochina the local population morals have been maintained under control. The gambling activities, as envisioned by the locally established French administrations, intersect with these concerns. As applied in the metropolis, the French administration considers that in Indochina the morals are subject to the Law ; the resultant legal regime develops alongside the expansion of the French administration into the peninsula. While gambling games are repressible in France, in Indochina they are often considered as a valuable financial resource. This conflictual consideration of gambling games generates uncertainties and a back-and-forth between exploitation, authorization, and interdiction. In the end, apart from the theoretical matter of legally regulating gambling in the Peninsula with respect to the former local regime and French law, the main problem centers around the nearly impossible enforcing of the new regime given the apparent incompatibility between the legal framework and local population’s cultural practices.
