Chapter 577

This was the first time for many people to enter the Golden Port Casino.

In the beginning, they had no money. Forget about coming in to see the sights; they couldn’t even get through the main door.

All those who run casinos are not fools. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the Golden Port Casino’s shuttle buses are constantly soliciting customers at the port and even give out free chips to these tourists who have just arrived.

These are all part of a design.

In this era, people who can travel to another region by boat, or even to another country, are not poor.

The poor simply cannot leave the place where they live. Some people in the Federation have been in a small town since they were born.

Until the day they die, they have never left a place five kilometers away from the town.

So, people who can travel long distances during this period are all potential, high-quality casino customers.

Giving them some chips, taking them to the casino for free, and letting them enjoy themselves is not a loss.

As long as two or three out of ten people are interested in the games in the casino, all their expenses can be recovered from these two or three people, not to mention making a handsome profit.

But for the poor who are already in the city, it’s not so easy to get in.

First, they need to show something that allows people to see their payment potential, which in plain terms is money, at least ten or twenty dollars.

Secondly, they have to be well-dressed. Not to say how well they are dressed, but at least clean and tidy, so as not to be impolite.

After all, the players who gamble in the casino will not want to sit at the same table with a beggar, so they must be well-dressed.

Just these two conditions have already prevented many of the lower class from entering the casino.

Later, when these people of Lance’s got money and status, they did not come in because Lance and the Five Families were not on good terms.

They stood in two different camps. They would not easily come to the casino, let alone contribute their own strength to the profits of the Kodak Family.

So when they were poor, they couldn’t come in. When they were rich, they were unwilling to come in, which made this their first time.

The luxurious decoration stimulated everyone’s nerves. After Lance had walked around the office area, he returned to the second floor.

He stood by the railing. Below were the neatly arranged gambling tables. When he looked down from here, he could imagine how shocking it would be when the gambling tables below were surrounded by people.

He turned to look at the young men, his gaze finally resting on Morris.

“Come here, Morris.”

Morris coughed a couple of times and walked over.

Lance put his arm around his shoulder, turned him around to face the gambling tables below. “Among us, the person who knows the most about gambling and casinos is you.”

“Me, Elvin, the others, we don’t understand the specific operation of a casino.”

“Maybe it’s no problem for us to talk big, since we don’t have to take any responsibility.”

“But if we were really asked to do it, we wouldn’t do a good job.”

He looked at Morris. Morris also realized Lance’s meaning. He shook his head with wide eyes and said, “I can’t do it well!”

Lance did not agree with his view. “You can at least do it better than us.”

“The casino will be yours to manage from now on. Five casinos, according to your ideas.”

“You can hire some professional managers, or other practitioners, and arrange them well. Don’t be stingy with their salaries.”

“The income of the casino is very important, although not much of the money can end up in our own pockets.”

Lance had already revealed to them that a large part of the profits from the casino’s operation after they took it over would have to be sent to other places. They themselves wouldn’t be able to keep much.

And Lance did not think that illicit liquor was inferior to casinos. In fact, if illicit liquor was done well, it would definitely be more profitable than casinos, in this period!

People were crazy for Prohibition!

Those who didn’t drink before were starting to drink. They were using this method to protest, to vent their dissatisfaction with the government!

So as long as Prohibition was not resolved for a day, the liquor business in the Federation would be good for a day!

Choosing Morris as this candidate was also a decision Lance had made after long consideration.

As the Five Families were dismantled by him, the “hostile gangs” in the entire city would only become fewer and fewer, and eventually disappear completely.

Morris still had some ability in this city, but if he left this city, for example, if he went to Creek Valley City, he wouldn’t be able to make it.

Now that there were not so many problems and enemies internally, his work and the importance of his work were constantly declining.

Instead of letting him end up with nothing to do, it was better to give him a job he was very familiar with, running a casino.

He had grown up in casinos since he was a child. Those small casinos looked different from the big ones, but in essence, there was no difference.

They were all about taking the money from the gamblers’ pockets and putting it into their own.

As long as he could do this well, that was enough.

Facing Lance’s clear eyes, Morris finally did not refuse. He agreed, “I’ll give it a try.”

“If I don’t do a good job, please find someone to replace me immediately!”

He sighed softly. In fact, with such a heavy responsibility, he was really a little uneasy.

But Lance’s trust made him unable to refuse. In the end, he still agreed.

Many of the guys who had a good relationship with him ran over and ruffled his hair, or hugged him. Managing these five casinos not only meant that he was about to enter another stage of his life, but also represented Lance’s absolute, unshakable trust in him!

Bolton in the crowd was a little envious. He of course knew that the identity of “casino general manager” was much more important than his current identity.

But he was indeed not very familiar with this aspect. Although he was envious and jealous, he was not dissatisfied.

Although he was much worse than Morris, compared to others, he was much better.

The news that Lance had led his men to the Golden Port Casino began to spread. It might have been spread by the Kodak family’s people, but Lance did not stop it, because they would soon know about this matter.

On the second day after the casino suspended its business and the Kodak family still hadn’t figured out what had happened, the Golden Port Today published this news on its front page—

The Biggest Change in Thirty Years, Will the Lance Family Rise to the Top?

Under the huge black headline was a photo of Lance coming out of his old company. He was not looking at the camera, but he was wearing a cloak, and his subordinates around him had a murderous aura.

Someone was opening the car door for him. He was walking towards the car on the side of the road. Although the picture was still, anyone who saw this photo could imagine the aura and temperament he had, like a lion on the grassland!

Then below it began to introduce some developments and speculations on this matter. And the second edition even introduced that the five gambling franchise licenses and the five casinos of the Kodak family had all been signed and authorized to Lance by Bandy.

The newspaper also put up some small pictures, including the scene of Lance signing, the scene of Bandy signing, as well as the legal teams of both sides, and photos of more people.

If before, the reporter had thought that Lance had become the biggest gangster boss in Golden Port City and would rule the underworld of Golden Port City, which was still something people felt was a matter of course, then the report in the second edition was to tear everyone’s emotions to pieces!

How did Lance become… the owner of the casino?

They didn’t understand, but whether it was the photos or anything else, it was all there. No one could change this fact, and the police had already stopped all investigations on Bandy, and also stopped the subsequent inspections and prosecution work.

A dead person, without any special driving force, the police department would not waste resources to investigate him, let alone sue a dead person who could not respond to a lawsuit.

In other words, even if someone questioned whether these contracts were legal and compliant, it was of no significance.

The people who saw this report all fell into an indescribable emotional change. They realized that the underworld of Golden Port City had really undergone a huge and unimaginable change!

The people from the Kodak family also saw this report.

BANG!

A loud noise came from the table in the hall. The dull atmosphere was instantly broken. An old man from Bandy’s uncle’s generation couldn’t help but stand up.

He looked at the clansmen, his voice loud, “Why are you all silent?”

“Weren’t you very talkative yesterday?”

“Why are you silent now? Don’t you like to talk?”

There were immediately some curses from below. Everyone was very annoyed now. The benefits that had been in their hands were gone. Where the fuck could they go to reason?

The old man didn’t pay any attention to the voices cursing him, but instead sneered, “You have the guts to curse me, but you don’t have the guts to curse Lance!”

“You have to know, what he took away is the hundred-year foundation of the Kodak family!”

His voice was filled with anger and sorrow. It seemed that Lance’s move this time had really hit his trachea.

In fact, the Kodak family didn’t have a so-called hundred years. It had only gradually developed to its current scale in the last thirty or fifty years.

At the same time, their franchise was not their own thing.

Before 955, the federal government did not allow the public operation of casinos and other gambling-related business venues. At that time, all casinos were illegal.

People could sit together in groups of three or five to play cards, and they could have a little bit of a stake, but it was absolutely not allowed for anyone to provide such a venue for others to gamble.

If someone did that, this person would be arrested, prosecuted for “illegally operating a gambling venue,” and then put in prison.

But there were too many people gambling in the Federation, especially the gold prospectors and the poor. They were addicted to gambling.

Almost all small pubs had this situation. Three or five people, or seven or eight people, would sit around a table and start gambling.

The pub owner would not charge them a service fee just because they were gambling, nor would they provide services like exchanging chips.

So this did not belong to “operating,” and the pub owner did not need to bear the relevant responsibility.

The federal government saw huge profits from this, and at that time it was a period of rapid development for the Federation. Subsequently, after discussion by Congress, it was determined to allow the operation of casinos.

But there must be a special operating license, and at least a special tax of more than 60% must be paid.

So these things were not the “inheritance” of the Kodak family, but were also things they had obtained through other means.

In the past, when they had snatched the licenses of others, those people probably had not thought that there would be such a day when their descendants would also be plundered by others.

But this just happened to be in line with the laws of nature’s development.

The old man’s hoarse voice made the hall quiet down again, but soon someone asked, “What else can we do?”

“That’s Lance!”

“The Five Families are finished. Shouldn’t you open your eyes and look at the surroundings and reality? We’re finished!”

The old man glared at that person fiercely. “As long as we are still here, the Kodak family will not be finished.”

That person sneered and stopped talking. There were still fucking people immersed in the greatness of the family and unable to extricate themselves.

In fact, there were quite a few such people. Even though they already knew that the world had changed, they were still unwilling to break free from their past glory.

They were unwilling to accept the facts.

“Bandy’s death is suspicious. It might be related to these authorizations. We have to protest, to let a higher-level law enforcement agency investigate this case, to find out who is stealing the wealth that belongs to our family!”

He was considering some countermeasures, and some people were also a little moved. After all, the family’s wealth mainly came from the casinos.

Now that the casinos were gone, it was definitely a fatal blow to them!

And with the complete rise of the Lance Family, if they lost the casinos, it meant that it would be difficult for them to continue to gain a foothold in Golden Port City.

To have them migrate to other places like other families and start over from scratch to build a new territory?

That would be better than just disbanding!

So a person who supported him asked, “What are you going to do?”

The old man pursed his lips, a determined look in his eyes. “Go to Manteno, find someone who can exert influence in this matter, give them some benefits, and see if there’s a way to change this terrible outcome.”

“I know some big shots who had a good relationship with Bandy in the past. They might be interested in my proposal.”

Someone asked, “What kind of benefits do you plan to use to persuade them to go against Lance?”

“Money?”

“Or something else?”

The old man said more bluntly, “Shares in the casino. Even if we have to give up half, it’s still better than us losing it completely!”

“I know some of you may think it’s too much, but in reality, it’s really not.”

“When we can stabilize, and then develop a little bit in the future, we may not have a chance to stand up again.”

“The casino is our only chance to stand up again. If we lose it, we will lose everything!”

“Including the wealth we now have, everything, and even…” his tone became a little low, and amidst people’s unwillingness, he said the words they didn’t want to hear, “…life!”

Yes, life.

Although they were finished, the wealth they possessed was still unattainable for ordinary people. So many industries, so many companies, these were all money!

In the past, they could protect these industries because the prestige of the Five Families was still there, but now, those people no longer had any scruples.

Soon they would find a way to annex this wealth. Whoever stopped them, they would kill them!

Those people in the Bay Area, on the surface, were civilized gentlemen, but in their bones, they were more disgusting than the vicious dogs in a cemetery!

The matter had been decided. Most people agreed with his choice. Soon they began to operate.

It was just that compared to the operating methods of most people, some people had different ideas, and at the same time, they did not intend to tell others.

These people belonged to the minority of sober ones. They knew very well that even if the old man’s plan succeeded, in the end, they would still not be able to escape those pathetic fates.

Because they had already lost the power to protect this wealth and everything. The result of doing so would be nothing more than changing from “the people of the Bay Area or Lance took everything from them” to “the people of Manteno took everything from them,” and that’s all!

So, rather than letting the situation get worse step by step, it was better to run now.

Those people packed their things and set off secretly. They didn’t tell anyone, planning to leave this city forever.

As long as you have money, you can live very comfortably anywhere.

Of course, they couldn’t compare with the past, but at least, they were still in the wealthy class and had not fallen into the middle class.

But there were also a few people whose choices were different.

Rather than being chewed to the bone and swallowed by the diners at the table, it was better to find a new thigh to hug.

A middle-aged man in his forties, with his sincerity, came to the outside of Lance’s new company and requested to see Lance.

Soon he was allowed to see Lance. Of course, before that, he was searched, including his shoes, which were taken off and checked.

When he came to the outside of Lance’s office, he patted his cheeks, planning to face Lance with a rosy smile and the most sincere and fawning attitude. His fawning smile, as the door was opened, solidified bit by bit.

His first thought was “why the fuck are you guys here,” and the people in the room, when they saw him, were no longer so shocked. Some even rolled their eyes, as if to say, “you’re only just arriving.”

He was pushed from behind and walked into Lance’s spacious office. He looked at the brothers and a nephew sitting on the sofa, his expression constantly changing.

Lance had a smile on his face. “You should know each other.”

The youngest person quickly bent down and said, “Yes, Mr. Lance, this is my uncle…” he said the person’s name.

Lance had the guy who had just come in also sit on the sofa. “If I’m not mistaken, the matter you’re going to talk about must be the same as the matter they’re going to talk about.”

The middle-aged man’s face was ugly as he glanced at the few people around him, and then he immediately put on a smile. “Yes, Mr. Lance.”

“There are a few people in the family who can’t see the situation clearly. They are trying to go to Manteno to find help to change the status quo.”

“I’m not worried that you are not their match, I just feel that… the matters of the city should be resolved in the city.”

After he finished speaking, he lowered his head.

(End of a Chapter)