Joseph Hobson Jagger (2 September 1830 – 25 April 1892) was an English

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

businessman from Yorkshire, who in around 1881 is said to have "broken the bank at

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

" by identifying and exploiting biases in the wheels of the roulette tables there. He used his winnings to buy property in Bradford. In 2018 he was the subject of a biography by his great-great niece Anne Fletcher.

Early life and family

Joseph Jagger was born at Cock Hill, Shelf, Yorkshire on 2 September 1830. In his youth he worked in the textile trade in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. He married Matilda with whom he had two sons and two daughters.Joseph H Jogger England and Wales Census, 1871.
Family Search. Retrieved 20 October 2018.

Monte Carlo

In the 1871 census, Jagger was described as a "piece worker". He set up his own textile business but it failed and he was faced with

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

and four children to support. Around 1880/81 he and his eldest son Alfred, with his nephew Oates Jagger, travelled to

with money borrowed from friends and family. Having worked in the textile industry, Jagger may have observed that spinning wheels were never perfectly balanced and always had some form of bias, and it is thought that Jagger hit on the idea of using this bias to win at

roulette Roulette (named after the French language, French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was likely developed from the Italy, Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various grouping ...

."Man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo, The" in ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable''. 16th edition. London: Cassell, 1999, p. 739. After studying the tables at the Casino de Monte-Carlo for a month to determine which numbers came up most frequently he began to place successful bets. Jagger is reputed to have won over 2 million francs over several days,"High-tech rollers hit casino for £1.3m." Steve Bird, ''The Times'', 23 March 2004, p. 3. the equivalent of £80,000 at the time and, according to ''The Times'', worth £7.5 million in 2018. The expression "

breaking the bank In gambling, breaking the bank refers to a player winning a large sum of money from a casino. The literal, extremely rare, situation of breaking the bank, is winning more than the house has on hand. The term can also be used for the act of win ...

" is used when a gambler wins more money than the reserve held at that particular table in the casino. At the start of each day, every table was funded with a cash reserve of 100,000 francs – known as "the bank". If this reserve was insufficient to pay the winnings, play at that table was suspended while extra funds were brought out from the casino's vaults. In a ceremony devised by

François Blanc François Blanc (; 12 December 1806 – 27 July 1877), nicknamed "The Magician of Homburg" and "The Magician of Monte Carlo", was a French entrepreneur and operator of casinos, including the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco. His daughter, Marie-F� ...

, the original owner of the casino, a black cloth was laid over the table in question, and the successful player was said to have broken the bank. After an interval the table re-opened and play continued. The manufacturers of the roulette tables later introduced movable partitions into their tables to frustrate Jagger's method. On his return to Yorkshire, Jagger used some of the money to purchase houses in Little Horton, Bradford, that were occupied by members of his family.

Death and legacy

Jagger died on 25 April 1892, according to ''Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', "probably mainly from boredom", however, his death certificate gives

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

as the cause. His address at the time was 25 Greaves Street, Little Horton, and he left an estate of £2,081 (). Probate was granted to Alfred Jagger, cashier, Sidney Sowood, warehouseman, and Oates Jagger, gentleman. He was described as a "manufacturer".1892 Probate Calendar.
p. 287. He was buried in the family grave at the Methodist Bethel Chapel in Shelf, Halifax.Here lies the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.
''Halifax Courier'', 5 April 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2018. He is incorrectly described by ''Brewers'' as the inspiration for Fred Gilbert's song "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo", first performed around the early 1890s; however, the song is thought to have actually been written about the gambler and fraudster Charles Wells.Short, Ernest Henry. (1946) ''Fifty Years of Vaudeville''. Reprint. Greenwood Press. p. 208. He is the subject of a biography by his great-great niece Anne Fletcher titled ''From the Mill to Monte Carlo: The Working-Class Englishman Who Beat the Monaco Casino and Changed Gambling Forever'', published by Amberley in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jagger, Joseph Businesspeople from Yorkshire 1830 births 1892 deaths English gamblers Roulette and wheel games English Methodists Textile engineers Diabetes-related deaths 19th-century English businesspeople

Early life and family

Monte Carlo

Death and legacy

See also

References