Suppressing the “Gambling Hell”

After reviewing some of the more prominent forms of gambling that the moral reformers sought to suppress and the role that local politics played in Boston’s political life, the forces that prompted the Watch and Ward Society to launch its campaign against gambling in 1883 are examined. Gambling deeply threatened Protestant mores regarding the virtue of labor. Moreover, Protestants’ critique of gambling included a defense of free market capitalism as well as the use of highly gendered language to promote the virtues of work and condemn the immorality of gambling. The moral reformers’ efforts to suppress these vices drove gambling underground in Boston as well as helped lead to federal legislation that outlawed the Louisiana Lottery across the nation.