In 1904, the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Justice (k. u. k. Justizministerium) published the following list of games prohibited in Austria-Hungary.
It was expanded by the state of Austria in 1933, was exemplary in Austria for many years and now represents a culturally and historically interesting list of the sort of gambling that was popular at that time.
It is particularly noteworthy that there are also some bowling and billiard games on this list, which today are regarded more as games of skill.
On 30 June 1904 a law was passed by the Ministry of Justice of the Empire of Austria-Hungary which designated the following games as "prohibited games":[1] The following were also classed as prohibited games: Chemin de fer, Rouge et noir, Trente et quarante, Trente et un, Vingt et un, Feuer, Belle (with boards and numbers), Billardquartscheiben, Biribi or Cavagnole, Elf hoch (with 3 dice), Esperanz (with 2 dice), Fräulein Tini, Häufeln, Grad – Ungrad, Kreiselspiel or Diplomat (with 9 skittles and a spinning top).
On 2 January 1933, Austria confirmed and extended the list of banned games as follows:[2] (The changes from the 1904 list are shown in italics.)