The most conclusive evidence of gaming in Cape Breton during the French regime comes from the concerted attempt by officials in France and Louisbourg to enact legislation to prevent the abuses of gambling. As early as 1722 the French government issued an ordinance prohibiting games of chance to be played in the French colonies of America. The preamble of the ordinance noted that the king had been informed that his ordinances concerning games of chance had not been observed and that inhabitants of the French islands and colonies together with merchants and traders from France were involved. The ordinance stated that "Frequent quarrels arise from the unjust inequalities, this causes the ruin of several families and engages the young people in debauchery and libertinage".

Hoping to correct this abuse, the king forbade anyone to play, or allow to be played in their homes, the following games: basette, pharaon, lansquenet, hoca, quinquenoue, and berbiby. Bassette, hoca and the other games were similar to faro, a card game played in central Europe since the 15th century. Faro was a banking game in which players placed bets on a special layout as to which cards will be winners or losers as they are drawn one at a time from a dealing box. Each two cards drawn constituted a turn after which bets were settled.

The ordonnance also forbade hotel owners, tavern keepers, and proprietors of inns to allow anyone to play these games in their houses upon the penalty of 500 livres for the first offence .... It was obvious that the ordinance against gambling was ignored by the Louisbourg citizenry, for the strictures were re-issued in 1742 and 1752. In October 1742, Governor Duquesnel and Commissaire-Ordonnateur François Bigot repeated the ordinance, first issued in 1685, which forbid all individuals, regardless of their sex and rank in society, to play the games forbidden in 1722. The game of barbacole was added to the prohibited list. The fine for gaming establishments permitting these games to be played was 6,000 livres or one year in prison, while the players faced fines of 1,000 livres or four months in jail .... The ordinance prohibiting games of change was again re-issued in 1752, three years after the return of the French to Louisbourg in 1749 ....

The 1722 ordinance prohibiting games of chance was hardly a Louisbourg ordinance; it was directed against games of chance in all of France's overseas possessions in America. In the same manner, ordinances against gambling among the military were intended for all men under French arms. On 1 July 1727 the king proclaimed an ordinance concerning military crimes. The ordinance explicitly prohibited gambling: 

Any soldier, cavalier or dragoon who tricks or cheats, in gaming shall undergo corporal punishment. It is His Majesty's will that if there are established in camps and places games of chance capable of engendering quarrels, commanders or governors shall break the tables, machines and utensils used for the said games, and shall cause those carrying on such games to be cast into prison ...

Within five months of the proclamation of the ordinance, Governor Saint Ovide candidly admitted that Louisbourg authorities were powerless to prevent drinking and gambling by the soldiers in the basement of the barracks. There were some attempts to control gambling among the military but they were largely unsuccessful. For instance, in August 1751, Sergeant Vandome was arrested and imprisoned for six days "for having played with a soldier while on guard".... In May 1753 another sergeant, Francoeur, a member of Captain Gourville's company, was arrested "for having played with a soldier in a room"... Both sergeants were arrested because they were non-commissioned officers and therefore were guilty of giving bad examples to the enlisted men. However, judging by the light sentences they received, their gambling was considered a minor offence.

The prohibitions against gambling for the military and civilians were unsuccessful attempts at social control that were disobeyed throughout Louisbourg's history. The first ordinance against gambling in France was passed in 1577 and it closely resembled the laws prohibiting gambling in Louisbourg. Royal ordinances in 1577, 1611, and 1629, together with decrees of Parliament, called for prohibitions against gaming houses as well as their clients. Each ordinance stipulated, as in Louisbourg, that the ban applies to all individuals "of whatever rank he may be" ... 

Despite the repressive measures gambling continued to gain popular favour. If the authorities realized that most of the inhabitants would not obey the strictures, why were they passed in the first place? The prohibitions against gaming in Louisbourg were part of an official Perception of public morality by authorities in France. As part of this official perception, it was considered critical that the law should provide strict guidelines for public behaviour. [Extract from Kenneth Donovan, Debauchery and Libertinage: Games, Pastimes, and Popular Activities in Eighteenth Century Louisbourg: A Manual for Interpretation at the Fortress of Louisbourg, Unpublished Report, H F 76 (Fortress of Louisbourg, June 1983), pp. 16-18]