Gambling is one of the things I thought I would never ever do. Until last night. You know what they say about Beginner’s Luck? It didn’t work for me. Unfortunately.
I spent my Sunday night with two of my College friends in Resorts World and after a nice dinner at Johnny Chow, and coffee at Starbucks (while we listen to classical songs sang by two great artists inline with Italian exhibit), one of my friends invited us to play the Casino.
I was not actually very excited about the idea. I was just curious. I heard how my former coworkers would burn money and thousands of pesos everyday playing Casino. For someone who is not earning much (like I do!), I frown about the idea of gambling. I always tell myself that gambling is the only sin that I haven’t committed (yes, I have murdered someone, and even molested that office crush – in my mind). But when my friend told me that she once won Php2,000 just by playing the slot machine, I felt that my eyes rolled and showed dollars – I think I want the same winning!
So off we entered the Casino at the ground floor. Majority of the gamers are seniors. I wonder if I get older, I would be a regular in this place, or if I would just register www.grannyblogger.com. My friend taught us how to enter the Resorts World card in the machine (which I only got that day), nominate PIN, load it with money, punch those buttons and wait for winning. We tried the slot machine with only Php1 lowest betting. I only played thrice, betting only Php1 per roll, but was just surprised when the screen showed I don’t have enough credit to play (I only loaded Php100). WHY? WHAT? HOW did that happen? I felt scammed!
We transferred to another machine, and I felt bored, betting Php1 each roll, winning nothing. Until my friend invited us to the Monopoly Slot Machine to play the Big Event. I watched her play. Betting in Big Event (with minimum of Php30 per roll – imagine that your Php100 credit can only play 3 rolls), she won credits which translated to cash. So you can win as much money depending on the combination – my friend won Php500 just with one combination. She told us she’s betting and punching the Big Event button so she would be qualified for the Big Event. In the Big Event, all qualified players in that table would be put in the Bonus round where Mr. Monopoly would announced how much money/credit/cash would be awarded to the eligible gamers. It is fun looking at the dice and checking how much money would be given. Plus, the amount of money would even be multiplied (dependent again – that night, Mr. Monopoly multiplied it by two for several Big Event rounds). Qualified gamers would receive a notification in the screen if they are eligible in the Big Event round.
I thought, hey, that’s easy money. Alright I would play the game again and try the Big Event. My friend’s favorite is the Egyptian themed game (I love Egypt too!), but I sat beside her with the Chinese themed game (the first machine I used and ate my PHp100 credit) thinking all the machines have the same rules of the game, and it is just luck which would give me good money.
My Balikbayan friend too got enticed and also loaded her card. I know it wasn’t really my luck, after loading my card and punching that Big Event button, my friends’ screened showed that they qualified for the Big Event, and I was nanosecond late for betting even once! Arrrgh.. It is because I first sent a message to my mom telling her I would be late, before punching the button. I hate it!
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We watched as Mr. Monopoly gave away credits and even Php1,000 cash and multiplied it by two! My Balikbayan friend got a total of around Php2,500 just by betting once in the Big Event. She was soo ecstatic that she stopped playing and withdrew the money. Then just loaded again some pesos and played.
While I tried my luck playing and betting – I loaded my card with Php500 per advise of my friend that I should load much and not just slide Php100 each time my credit is running low. That was really not my day. I only win Php5, or Php20 or Php10. The biggest I won is Php150. Hate it! Php500 gone with just a few press of the button.
My friend was so nice to promised to pay me the Php500 I used to play. I know I was cheapskate that night. But hey, Php500 can give me good food and can already feed my family. I already lost Php100 in the first game and Php200 for playing the slot machine.
As soon as my friend handed me the Php500. I got tempted again to use it to play the game. I thought I was there to have fun. So the bill went inside the machine again. Punching the button, I couldn’t help but complain, there was no Big Event announcement the whole duration of my game! I haven’t won even Php500 worth of credit. So I just watched my credit changes into two digits and into one digit. Gone.
A few minutes after, the Big Event showed up on screen again, and my friend was once again qualified (my Balikbayan friend stopped playing after she lost some hundreds – at least she got to take home some thousands!). She won around Php2,000 again. I told her that was enough. It is gambling. I really had to go home. My mom would kill me. My friend pressed on Collect button (it means, you are out of the game and ready to collect your credit). She paused for a while thinking of playing once more. I said it is enough, you might lose it. As soon as she ejected the card and stood up, the Big Event showed up in the screen again. She wanted to kill me.
I know the sight of Mr. Monopoly and announcement of the Big Event were exciting and inviting. Even if I had not win anything, or even if I didn’t make it to the Big Event even once, I feel excited watching in the big screen how much money Mr. Monopoly is willing to give.
My friend withdrew her earnings (yes, there are ATM machines in the casino and your Resorts World card serves as your ATM machine and you can withdraw your winnings and get them as cash). She then handed me Php500 bill as balato. She told me she would have given me Php1,000 if I just let her play some more that could have made her qualified to that last Big Event. I told her, that was good money already and she might lose it in the next game. It was all good, and thanks to her – I felt that I only lost Php300 and I could just thought I played in Timezone.
Conclusion: Gambling is not for me. I don’t need to read the bible to be reminded that it is not good. I always pray to God that if I am faced with a situation that would make me commit a sin, He has to make a way for me not to get involved. So I thought my losing that night was a sign. At least, I don’t get that satisfaction of winning and probably trying it once more to win bigger.
On the second thought, I am thinking maybe next time I would finally win. Not all slot machines are against me, right?
How’s your first casino/gambling experience? How much is your biggest winning and how much have you lost?
