Dear Mark,
On my last six trips to
Gulfport, MS, I've come home a winner playing slots. I believe it's
beyond luck now. I just have this certain feeling when to play a
particular machine. I've been so successful lately that I feel I should
go to dollar machines, or higher, versus the quarter ones and win even
more money. Am I on to something here? Jon S.
Jon, may I share two stories with you?
One deals with arrogance and the other with the incessant craving for
more.
An old Polish folk tale tells of a
fisherman who lives in a hovel by the sea and catches a magical fish
that grants his humble desire for a cabin and enough to eat. After a
week, he is no longer satisfied and demands larger quarters, and once
again the fish grants him his wish. The sequence of catch and release
repeats itself for six weeks until the fisherman lives in a castle, then
demands the finest palace. For his insolence, the fish casts him back to
the hovel by the sea.
For the second story, let's stick with
the water theme. "God himself cannot sink this ship." Those were the
quotes throughout the newspapers prior to the Titanic making her first
passage across the big pond. She was appropriately named, as Titans
always dared to challenge the gods, and for their arrogance they were
cast down into hell.
At best, Jon, by challenging the gaming
gods absorbed in your spirit of rapacity, you're on the Atlantic ocean
in a one-man lifeboat with a slow leak. And the sound I hear? Pssssssss.
Dear Mark,
I very much enjoy the
historical questions you answer. Where do you find the answers to the
most obscure questions? Also, how about trying mine? Tell me about the
history of keno in this country. Sylvia R.
Around 200 B.C. in China, Cheung Leung
introduced the lottery, the forerunner to modern day keno, to fund his
army. Because of its overwhelming success, it continued, and additional
proceeds from future lotteries were used to fund major projects such as
the Great Wall.
In the 1860s when the building of the
railroads in the United States offered promise to Chinese immigrants,
they brought a game, the Chinese lottery, to America. As the game's
popularity grew, it evolved from a 120-grid ticket used in the railroad
camps to an 80-number ticket called Keno.
You wanted to know my
sources, Sylvia. This sweetmeat of enlightenment came from the placemats
at the coffee shop at Karl's Silver Nugget in Sparks, Nevada. Found
above the placemats were cheap, terrific breakfast specials-and for some
readers, that's more valuable information than the Keno answer.
Dear Mark,
Don't you think that
when you write about long-shot slot machines like Megabucks, you induce
play rather than helping a player refrain from playing? Stanley F.
The goal of this column is not to shill for the casinos but to inform players
on the exact cost of an evening's entertainment. I am of the
opinion, Stanley, that players should know exactly what their chances
are of hitting the big jackpots. Some casinos do post the
paybacks on their machines, but not the true odds of hitting a jackpot.
If they posted the odds, no one in his right mind would play those
machines. You will note, that I continually write that your chances are
slim to none for a life of opulence when playing Megabucks.
Unfortunately, no amount of education
from me, nor the casino disclosing the enormous odds right on a machine,
will curb a player's appetite for hitting it rich. Every slot
participant believes he or she will be the exception to the rule; she
will beat the celestial gods; it is he who will come home a victorious
contestant against ABC casino.
And every so often, Stanley, to induce a
Pavlov saliva reaction, you will read in the paper that Mabel, from
Ames, Iowa, hit it big, real big.
