So many good reasons not to gamble. The odds are absurd, and I can do basic math. I don't see the fun in carpal-tunnel inducing repetitive pulling of a handle. I'm not Rain Man. The casinos are full of tobacco smoke and pickpockets. And to top it off, I have that great story about how I beat the house the one time I went to a casino in Michigan, and actually made a few bucks on the slots. I was going to walk away and be ahead of the casinos for life.
Cut to today- I was on the strip to buy tickets for The Lion King (I'll post my review of it Sunday). I parked in the MGM Grand parking garage, and walked through the gaming floor to get to the ticket counter on the strip. On my way back to the car I got turned around, as one tends to do in a casino. I had nowhere specific to go at the time, so I decided to find a penny slot machine and burn a dollar. I found my machine, put in my buck, and proceeded to play about 7 cents before becoming thoroughly bored with the process. The machine I picked didn't even have a lever; I was just pushing a button and watching my bet disappear a penny at a time. Really, how do people find that entertaining? I decided I was done, and hit the button to just bet the rest of my money all at once, figuring it wasn't worth the trouble to print out a slip and get it cashed out.
As soon as I pushed the button, the bells started ringing and the lights started flashing. I still don't fully understand how slot machines decide whether or not you win; the symbols that came up didn't match, so it must have been some special sequence. Regardless, I won. Not a lot ($3.80), but I did roughly quadruple my money and extend my winning streak against the casinos of the world. So that was fun.
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