I'm slogging my way through _Vanity Fair_ right now, and while the subject of gambling has certainly not occupied a large portion of the book, it (and its evils) did the chapter I just finished.
But if you want something 19th C that _doesn't_ discuss gambling, and is an absolute riot to read (and to guess the plot twists), try E.D.E.N. Southworth's novels. Serialized in newspapers when they were first published, they range from cutely romantic to wildly improbable and thus horrendously funny. I've been ILLing them and going through them like candy. As I tell Joel, at least it's not a harmful addiction.
gambling and 19th C novels
But if you want something 19th C that _doesn't_ discuss gambling, and is an absolute riot to read (and to guess the plot twists), try E.D.E.N. Southworth's novels. Serialized in newspapers when they were first published, they range from cutely romantic to wildly improbable and thus horrendously funny. I've been ILLing them and going through them like candy. As I tell Joel, at least it's not a harmful addiction.
-Sara/Ary