Today I drove the final leg of Allipalooza-Southwest. I arrived in Las Vegas which meant a real bed and a shower. Along with the comforts of a hotel room came the distractions that all casinos in Las Vegas offer. After spending a few more hours in solitude I met a friend for a drink.
In additional to the nightly rate for the hotel room I had to pay a $15 resort fee. In exchange for this fee I received two $15 drink coupons. It is really only a way to encourage you to spend more money.
Since I was down on casino level after meeting my friend I decided to try my luck on the slots. On my last visit to Vegas in February I won a hundred dollars so I thought I maybe the gambling Gods would be with me again. After trying several machine two things were obvious to me. First, just because one machine won before does not mean it would be a winner a second time. Second, there is a reason you should only take a select amount of money with you to casino versus having your wallet with you. For some reason I question spending $80 on a pair of hiking boots, but when you put a twenty in a couple different slot machines it does not seem like a lot. After losing more money than I want to admit I decided to cash in my free drink ticket. Since I was drinking alone I decided to try my hand at the slot machine at the bar. Since my coupon was equivelnt to $15 I was given two drinks. Soon after I started playing the slot machine it randomly won over $150. The smart thing would have been to cash out, take my drinks and call it a night. The casino bets that you will not do the smart thing. I still had $15 dollars of fake money in front of me so I continued to press the buttons and bet money that really was not mine to begin with (or was i?t).
I started the bargaining we all use when gambling. "okay, I might be up but if it paid out now, it will pay out more". So I kept pressing the buttons. Sometimes I won and some times I lost. I kept bargaining with myself that I would stop when my balance hit a certain amount. However, whenever I hit that amount I still had more half a drink to consume so I kept going. I told myself it was no big deal since it was just gambling and the money was not really mine regardless of the dollars I already fed into the other machines.
Finally my credits and glass were empty and I decided it was time to call it a night. Since I had already had consumed four more drinks than normal (which is zip) I figured I should eat something. I went to the food court and ordered some Chinese food. Along with my entree I received a fortune cookie. My fortune tonight is "Beware of an offer that sounds too good be true". This seems applicable to my evening. Free drinks are only a ploy for you to spend more money. I might not have spent the money on alcohol, in reality I was the casino's ideal guest. Instead of alcohol I consumed the lure of winning.
Even now as I sit in my room and type this I am tempted to go downstairs to redeem my remaining $15 drink coupon and take my chances at the slots. The question of the day is "Will I take advantage of the coupon or call it an early night and rip it up?".
I will let you decide which path I choose.
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