I once heard of an easy way to come back from Las
Vegas with a small fortune - go there with a large fortune.
I haven't been to Las Vegas, but I went to Reno
once for a conference. I was immediately impressed by the efficiency by
which they make gambling available as I was walking down the corridor from
the plane, and saw slot machines lined up along the wall. Actually, it
wasn't quite that bad, but there were indeed many slot machines in the
airport, and indeed you had to walk past a few to get to your baggage.
Hotel lobbies are the same way - you thread your way past a multitude of
machines in the hopes of finding the elevator or front desk.
They even made it so you could gamble while eating
in many restaurants, with Keno screens everywhere you looked, and people
walking around selling Keno tickets. Of course, if you had to wait for
a table you could occupy yourself with the slot machines in the waiting
area of the restaurant.
Nonetheless, I saw several places where they could
improve if they were REALLY serious about gambling. For instance, they
should modify elevators to require you to put in a coin and pull a lever.
Then you go to a floor at random. If it's not the floor you want, you put
in another coin and pull the lever again. Restroom stalls need a similar
treatment. You keep putting in coins and pulling the lever until the door
unlocks. Another thing that really doesn't give chance a free hand is telephones.
Now, in all fairness, some of them do require coins to operate, but they
need to make it so the number you connect to is random. If it's not the
person you wanted to talk to, hang up and put in another coin. Another
one is taxis. They should operate them so you pay some money and the destination
is random. If you don't like that place, try again. Or, you could tell
the driver where you want to go but the amount you pay is according to
the roll of the dice. Vending machines are another opportunity. You put
in your coins and pull a lever. If nothing happens you try again. Eventually
you may get a random chocolate bar, or a hundred. I think men already use
the gambling spirit even when they're not in Nevada. It's well known that
if a man is going somewhere and he doesn't know how to get there he won't
ask directions, he'll just start driving in a random direction until he
gets there. In the same vein I think they should stop making city maps
for Reno.
I think the staff of the hotels should get with
the program as well. The person at the desk of the one I was staying at
didn't seem at all interested in a double-or-nothing bet with me for my
bill.
I also heard establishments in Reno have come up
with an excellent money-saving plan for their regular patrons. With it
being so difficult to make ends meet these days some people aren't able
to put together enough money to go to Reno as often as they had in the
past. With this new plan you can just send the money you were going to
use for gambling to one of these places, and later they send you back an
itemized report telling you where you lost it.
By: Rod Carty.