Overall, Franz cracked down on gambling while simultaneously bringing casinos into the light and regulating them.
The charitable casinos Franz had secretly set up drove huge numbers of casinos straight into bankruptcy as soon as they appeared; underground casinos in particular were nearly wiped out.
The root of this effect was the charitable casinos' extremely low rake. Since they were not operated for profit and only needed to cover basic expenses and operations, their rake usually stood between 1% and 2%.
Even with an additional 5% charitable fund, the total rake of charitable casinos was only around 7%.
By contrast, casinos of this era generally took a rake of over 15%, while the lottery industry's rake ran as high as 50%. Faced with such a disparity, those casinos could only shut their doors for good.
Since charitable casinos were not run for profit, it was unlikely that other casinos could crush them through conventional means.
As for unconventional means, those gambling magnates were even less of a match. Franz was still worrying about how to wipe this lot out completely; if any fool dared stir up trouble, Franz would be more than happy to send them on their way.
But now, someone was clearly violating Franz's ban and trying to establish a massive lottery throughout the Austrian Empire. It might not have produced the farce of Maria Theresa's era—five numbers chosen from ninety—but a five-out-of-forty format was hardly any smarter.
The odds of winning the grand prize in a five-out-of-forty lottery were ten times those of a seven-out-of-thirty-five lottery, yet its coverage of minor prizes was very low, clearly defying commercial logic.
Moreover, although railways and telegraphs now existed, running a nationwide lottery remained fraught with difficulties, and its operating costs were bound to remain exorbitant.
The reason Franz did