70 THE GAME OF CHAP-JI-KI. 
The post of a collector is naturally one of considerable trust 
and confidence, for the collectors have to pay the winnings to 
their clients and if they did not do this honestly or if they com- 
bined with the manager to cheat the stakers the lottery would 
have been impossible. But the collectors were well paid, they 
received at least a commission of ten percent from the stakers 
on all money won by them, and in the rare event of getting 
no commission on any particular occasion, the manager had 
to make a present of $5 or soto the collectors in proportion 
to the amount of stakes she had collected, to pay for her transport 
and other expenses. 
The occupation of a collector, therefore, was much coveted, 
as it was a steady source ofincome. I am afraid, too, that there 
can be no doubt that some of the collectors did occasionally 
make a book with the manager and let the manager know what 
card would be best to declare and then shared the profits. 
During the last 24 months there have been three large 
Chap-ji-ki lotteries in Singapore. The game was first started 
in Johore before it was introduced here, 
Roughly speaking the daily total amount won at these 
three chief lotteries now was about from $300 to $500 or 
more, and the daily total hrofit of the managers was large. In 
some of the lotteries there is no limit to the amount that can 
be staked. Others are limited. 
The solvency of these Chap-ji-ki lotteries was well secured, 
and commanded the confidence of the female staking public. 
The husband of the manager may have had sufficient funds to 
inspire confidence. If he was not a capitalist, two or three 
ladies of position and property would let it be publicly known 
that they would be responsible for-so and-so’s lottery ; and in 
return for the security thus furnished, these ladies would be 
taken into partnership by the manager and receive a share of the 
profits of the particular syndicate they guaranteed. After the 
Chap-ji-ki lotteries in chief were established and it was seen that 
big profits were being made, several ingenious spirits opened what 
they called Chap-ji-ki sub-agencies or branch firms. That is to 
say, the promoters made arrangments with one of the original 
chap-ji-ki syndicates by which they would be allowed to de- 
clare as their winning card whatever winning card the syndi- 
cate declared on any particular day. Some of these Chap-ji- 
