Monday, March 12, 2007

About the greatest gambler, you all should know him well


This weekend I had the most bizarre stroke of luck. My friend had organised a trip to a casino in central London. We used to go a lot when we were at university, and I hadn’t been since so it was good to go back. I was initially worried that the stakes were going to be too high, with a £5 minimum on black jack (my game of choice) compared to the £1 and £2 minimum’s we had at the Casinos in Newcastle. So it took me a long time to pluck up the courage to hit the table.

I took out £60 on the night, spent £20 of it in the pub (where I confidently declared that I was "feeling lucky today") and had £40 to ‘loose’. I like it this way as I know that I’ll have spent money and had a good laugh at the same time and it helps me keep it all under control. It’s easy to get carried away with these things. I started off with roulette and had a lucky streak and made my first £20 become £50. I then had a drink and some free food before returning to Roulette and managed to loose all of my profit in about ten minutes...

It was then I took the fateful decision to play the cards and I made £100! Luck was quite simply with me. I then took a break and again had a few drinks before returning to the table where I made a further £130! I was just so incredibly lucky. Everything I did was right, each decision brilliant and I had the cards in my favour. I was so amused by this situation that I even tried pushing my luck, took a card on 17 for the hell of it and got 21! Even when I was trying to loose I couldn’t.

But Casino’s in the UK are a funny thing. There’s nothing glamorous about them. They are filled with Chinese people (one player spent £300 in about 2 minutes on roulette and another had a £600 debit card transaction refused by her bank at the cashing desk) and many people who look of a dubious nature. Those dubious characters that fill smoky pubs and who all seem to make deals on their mobile phones while sipping a pint of stella.

In the London casino there were also a few people who looked like whores. I’m not kidding you, a woman who spent her time around the tables on the look-out for someone who had won it big and who had her breasts on constant display for all to see. This is about as far from the glitz and glamour of Vegas as it is possible to get.

But I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I’ve always approached gambling as a pleasant past-time which I do from time to time. This weekend I got lucky, but next time I won’t be as lucky, it’s when you’re expecting that big win to come around on the next roll of the roulette wheel, the next throw of the craps dice, the next croupier at black jack, the next roll of the slot machine that you’ve got a problem. Unfortunately, there were plenty of people in the casino at the weekend who were thinking like that. These are the people who will need help when the super-casinos come around and gambling is further liberalised.

I won't be making a trip back to the casino for a while... I'm going to enjoy the winning feeling for a long time before I return - I'll only end up loosing. It's the nature of the game. And hopefully some of those sorry sorry people in the casino will realise this soon. But I think they won't.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you have a casino in london town? why the heck we didnt go there last saturday instead being let out of every damn pub



Check me out, if you dare