The “House” Always Wins

Even when you win, the house still wins more. What do I mean you ask? Well, almost every single slot machine in Vegas now operates on a ticket payout system. Long gone are the coins where you turned them into cashiers, mainly due to the fact that years ago there were some very smart stupid con artists who discovered how to rip off the machines by using a couple of simple tools. One of those tools was called “The light wand” and it would trick the machine and you would win. I watched the documentary on YouTube. Fascinating.

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Now back to the house winning, in more way than one. Since there is a “coin” shortage, if you happen to have any change on that ticket, you don’t get it. The house keeps it. While you might not think it is a lot, there was an entire movie on how a guy ripped off a bank by stealing pennies from millions. Yeah, so now you get the idea. So when you play slots, there are also hundreds of people that keep those little tickets as their keepsake. They put it in a scrapbook, or whatever. House kept that money too. And just so you know, there are still machines that you CAN play one penny one line. Or one quarter one line. No one is forcing you to hit MAX BET.

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People are strange and part of the experience of the trip is seeing the multitude of types of people. And people are lonely now, so when a guy like me comes up and starts up a chat while you are winning, usually goes over pretty well. You are either “GIRL” or “Dude”. A lot of people feel like it is more difficult to talk to strangers due to the pandemic. Well, we are both wearing our masks so it is okay. I stayed away from smokers. Speaking of … I forgot how many people smoke in Vegas. It is horrible. It was mostly while visiting Fremont Street, which doesn’t seem to have any impact, as thousands of people are gambling and drinking in public. If it was hotter I am sure more people would be drinking those giant frozen drinks. If you want to do the zip-line you have to make reservations online in advance, like at least 24 hours. My sister in law did the superman version and she said it was an exhilarating 3 minutes.

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The clientele on Fremont and Circus Circus and probably pretty close, as they are not the “dress up” to go out crowd. Probably the cool factor is the overhead dome shield that is animated and protecting you from the blazing sun. Loud rock pop music is playing, and you can see all kinds of beggars. We saw a fat old huge breasted retired broke stripper. She had stars over her nipples and was wearing a plastic mask. It was … not pretty. But that is her income, taking picture showing off her mammoth tits. There is a giant 3 hotel property that is opening sometime this year in 2021. It is called All Resorts World. I watched a YouTube video on it, and it is very impressive.  Looks expensive. They have 6000 positions open. Guess how many applicants applied. Nope. 85,000ish. They are more than overwhelmed and it is due to the thousands of people unemployed in Vegas.

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My brother and his wife stayed at the Golden Nugget on Fremont street, and I have to say I was rather impressed at how nice it was. They have a shark tank that is in the middle of the pool. The only complaint is when you enter the front door, there is no ramp for you roll your luggage. WTF? Right? #goldennugget Listen up and fix this. I am not the only person who has rolling luggage that visits your “classy” hotel. They had a lot of nice restaurants, including Claim Jumper, Tequila Bar, and Chik-Fil-A, and a Starbucks. I found out from my Uber that they DO have a dedicated Uber/Lyft pick up. It is IN the garage and you have to walk across the street up to the 2nd floor. No signage. WTF. Right? I know. Vending machines are closed but you can still get ice. So … bring your empty water bottle and fill it with ice for free ice water. And wash your hands after touching the button. Or use your elbow. Pools in Vegas open March 1st, so airlines and hotels have already increased prices as they know it will draw in more players. I think cruising down a lazy river with very few people around sounds amazing. I think another quick vacay at the Mirage is in my near future.