viggerish

[Mullins, Bill]

One of my hobbies is magic.  John Scarne was a famous magician of the mid-20th
century who also did a great deal to educate the public, particularly WWII GI's,
about crooked gambling games.  I found an article about him on ProQuest:

Help for G.I. Suckers
By John Desmond
New York Times (1857-Current file); Oct 10, 1943; pg. SM14

from the jump on p. 34:
"Gamblers don't call it mathematics.  They call it "viggerish," which
probably is a slurring over of the familiar gambling-house phrase, "How
do you figure it?" Scarne says.  "Viggerish" is the hidden percentage
which all gambling houses take against the player."

I've always known vigorish, "the vig," as the exhorbitant interest
charged by a loan shark.

>From the letters, 3 weeks later:
New York Times (1857-Current file); Oct 31, 1943; pg. SM2
" "Viggerish"
To The Editor:
  The article on gambling in THE TIMES magazine was an interesting
expose of games of chance, but there is one question raised which
I think I can explain better than John Scarne.

  I have heard the word "viggerish" used for the cut the house takes
in dice games.  But it seems highly improbable to me  that the word
is a corruption of "how you figure it" because it requires too much
of an assumption to make the transition from one to the other.  My
theory is far simpler.  If you take the word as a corrupt form of
"vicarage" then consult the dictionary.  You will find that it is a
collection of tithes.

Pfc. David Shulman
New York."

Many of you will recognize the author of the letter.