An excerpt from Kirk Semple and Jeffrey E. Singer’s New York Times article about the city’s illegal Chinese gambling parlors, several of which have recently been hit by armed robbers:
“One popular mah-jongg parlor in Flushing thrived, until recently, in a two-bedroom apartment where as many as 20 people played at a time. Some regulars would stay for as long as two days, taking catnaps on a sofa. They would eat takeout food, and in the evening the boss would oversee the preparation of more elaborate meals.
At parlors devoted to mah-jongg, the stakes do not get very high, with maximum wins and losses usually amounting to no more than several hundred dollars per person in a session. In other parlors, however, players may experience swings involving tens of thousands of dollars.”
Tags: Jeffrey E. Singer, Kirk Semple