Gambling fever is not an affliction I have.

Last night my brother and his fiancé invited Tiger Mom and I to "the Boat". It's about 1 1/2 hours away and I'd never gone so sure why not...... Because it's a disgusting den of depression and stink, that's why.

Seriously, even if I was independently wealthy (something that is unlikely to change) the atmosphere was nearly unendurable. The one non-smoking floor was at the bottom level and still stunk, just not to the degree of the other three floors where billowing clouds of tobacco smoke floated, trapped between conflicting currents of the air handlers but never actually going away. The upper three levels were where everyone wanted to hang out however, crowds and crowds of screaming, excited people gleefully losing their weekly checks in the vain hope of striking it rich (did none of them notice the vast complex we came in throug? What do you think paid for this? That's right, gamblers.)

The jangling slots competing for attention assaulting eyes and ears. With their jangling music and flashing lights.

So I lost $40, not terrible. It could have been an entry to an autocross though. The high point of the evening was stopping at Waffle House for hash browns "all the way" something I haven't done in a decade. Fortunately the aweful waffle didn't disappoint.

tl:dr takeaway: I hate everything about casinos.

I hear you, spud. I've been in casinos exactly twice. I don't get the excitement.

Certainly not everybody is a problem gambler, but I've known a few. It must suck to be in that situation. One of them is single, childless, and has lived rent free with her mother her entire life. In fact, she recently inherited her mother's house so her shelter has been provided to her at no cost for her entire life. She's probably 60, has a good, professional job, yet has very little savings... I hope the "fun" is worth it to her.

I love casinos, but I don't gamble. It's such a strange atmosphere. It's kind of like a strip club. It's interesting to watch people trying for something they have no real chance of getting.

Joey

I'm a gambler. I fly airplanes and ride motorcycles. I figure I've used up all my luck there. Casinos have no appeal.

Same here, I was fortunately born without the gambling gene. The one time I tried it on a trip to Vegas, I felt like an idiot after losing $100. Haven't dropped a penny in a slot machine since, despite several more trips to Vegas for work. I mean, they didn't build those giant casinos by giving money out.....

You had the late night Hash Browns, all-the-way and claim that you are not a gambler?

Know too many people in that boat, they're kidding themselves IMO but it is their money and if that gets it as 'entertainment value' for them, more power to ya, to each their own. A few were truly addicted and couldn't make it to payday w/o borrowing money, that's the sad cases. I have my own vices but gambling is not one of them, dunno why. Ran a Powerball pool at work, estimated dollars spent playing was over $56K in ten years and the biggest winner was only $500. I'll save my money TYVM. Won't date a woman who says let's go to the casino either. Nope, nope, nope.

I like casinos when taking cross country road-trips. Not for gambling, but because I know I'll be able to roll up and have zero problems getting a room that will end up being the nicest, and the cheapest of the entire roadtrip. Plus guaranteed that they'll have a restaurant downstairs that will do a decent breakfast for cheap.

(I put a quarter in a slot machine once. Lost it in 10 seconds. Got the idea. figured I'd rather throw quarters into an arcade game.)

In reply to Beer Baron: ya know, I'd have much preferred the slot machines if they still used actual coins, pulled an actual lever, watched nice mechanical wheels spin around, and spit back real money.

Now you feed the machine a bill and smack the "play again" button every 5 seconds like a damaged lab rat until your "credits" are gone. Rinse repeat.

A coworker and I stayed in Vegas for a trade show. He brought $200 to gamble and the hotel gave us both an extra $25 to gamble (I gave him my $25).

He burned through it one night down to the last dollar. Then I reminded him he could have bought his 8 year old son a really nice bicycle got $200+. The look on his face was so sad - I was being a dick.

I did go to a boat about 15 years ago. Sat down at one of the shots an put in a few coins. Was only going to spend $10. That's it. Pumped in about $9 worth and hit some sort of jackpot. $70! Hit the cash out machine and left. Slot jockeys were freaking out telling me " That machine is hot. You never cash out when they're hot." Nope. That's why I'm a winner. Because I've never been back.

I work in a casino. Granted, the Borgata is the high end place of Atlantic City, so we do not get the low end gamblers that the boardwalk places do, but it is still sad to see people parked at the one-armed bandits for hours at a time, plugging in their life's savings one coin at a time.

And just wait till the SS cheques come in.. the place is full of older people spending them.

I am just so glad I work up in the Event Center and the Music Box and do not have to deal with the people. I know I could never be a floor person, I would want to end my life surrounded by all that 8 hours at a time

I can't handle the logic either. It's not uncommon for people to say they only lost a few hundred, but, if I told them I spend a few hundred to go to the movies, I am sur they would think I am insane.

No appeal at all. Not drawn to booze or drugs either...

I find it a bit sad, especially with the older folk. I know it's effectively an economic stimulator, but I really wish ther was something at least a BIT more societally beneficial they could be spending their money on.

A couple of years ago, I was getting physical therapy following surgery. My physical therapist was a young guy who had just graduated college. He looked a little tired and bleary eyed one Friday morning and I asked him about it. He said, "Thursday is payday, and every week my buddies and I go to the casino with a couple hundred bucks. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose."

I said, "Every Thursday, I go to the bank. I win every week."

I do not enjoy gambling.

Living in Vegas, of course, gaming is everywhere. You want a Slurpee? 7-11 has a dozen slot machines in it. Grocery stores and drugstores, too.

Every night after work, I stop at the gas station for a drink and a snack. I play $1 worth of nickel video poker. It lasts 10-20 minutes. By thinking about the cards for that period, I forget about work.

It's cheaper than therapy.

In reply to KyAllroad:

I don't like the atmosphere of the boat either. Yuck.

Besides, if I'm going to throw away 50 bucks, I'd rather do it at a strip joint.

The casino in Cincinnati is smoke free, and has a really tasty burger place. I use the free parking in the garage and walk right past the machines to get a burger, fries and a shake

On rare occasions, I'll play in a poker tournament, but it's been years since that's happened.

"I hate people, but love gatherings,"

The guy I used to work for had a cabin near Pikes Peak - Denver guy. We went in early for a meeting to fly fish and ended up looking for something cool to do on Saturday night. He suggested we run over to Cripple Creek and go gambling. Since I don't gamble or drink I ended up looking over the shoulder of my coworkers.

The town was dying and they converted all the store fronts to casinos and it was packed on Saturday night - except most of the people were in the 65-90 year old range and I saw a LOT of oxygen bottles next to people. This was my happening Saturday night? I never told my wife.

http://www.cripple-creekcolorado.com/

I went with my mother and sister to the Cherokee casino once. Walked in with $40, immediately won a little over $100 on the first game I played, found Mom said let's go, she said no we are here for the day, left after giving back all of the winnings. But I still had the $40 I came with.

Found a great way to drink for cheap in Vegas. Trick was to take the time to actually program the one cent games back down to the penny they advertised (normally these are really a quarter or so on the default). Insert one dollar. Pull the handle your 100+ times. Should take about 30 min if you do it right. Celebrate every damn win with high fives like ya hit the jackpot. Receive your first comped drink from the waitress, tip $2. By the time you're through you'll have 2 more in ya and ready to go do something else.

EvanR wrote: Living in Vegas, of course, gaming is everywhere. You want a Slurpee? 7-11 has a dozen slot machines in it. Grocery stores and drugstores, too. Every night after work, I stop at the gas station for a drink and a snack. I play $1 worth of nickel video poker. It lasts 10-20 minutes. By thinking about the cards for that period, I forget about work. It's cheaper than therapy.

My dad and I went on a ski trip to my great uncle's place in the Reno/Tahoe area when I was like ten. My most prominent memory of Nevada from that trip was walking off the plane and IMMEDIATELY seeing slot machines in the airport. Like, as soon as you walk out the tunnel from the plane, you HAVE to walk around a bank of them. It was comically conspicuous.

I'm definitely not a gambler, but I have a few friends who are. They bug me to go to the casino every so often, but I have yet to do so. The occasional poker game with friends is fun and I figure the $10-20 we play for is still cheaper than going out. I actually even won last time, which bought me a short throw shifter for the Camaro

Legalized gambling as a whole, though, is something that really perplexes me, ethically speaking. On the one hand, I think that the idiots should be free to slowly bleed themselves dry because that's their choice to do so. But on the other, it seems that the industry as a whole is so predatory in nature that it's not even fair. But that could be said about a lot of things I guess. Not like my opinion matters anyways, given the amount of dollars involved.

I went to Vegas once for the SEMA show. The entire society there was very...weird to me. Between the Mexicans flipping hooker cards at me, and the halfwits feeding cash into the machines, I felt like I'd found the place where FSM would start if he decided to give the world a flush.

I enjoy playing cards, with other humans. Its fun, and a certain amount of skill can skew the percentages a wee bit in your direction. The machines, though...I just can't imagine what sort of trance a person would have to be in to enjoy that.

I enjoy them for the people watching. The wife and I have only been to a couple. The first was at Niagra Falls where we walked in, the wife made one pull on a slot machine and won a few hundred bucks turned around and left. The last time was in Vegas. The wife was uncomfortable so we got up at about 4 am and went down to the casino to watch people throw away college funds, it is more entertaining than it should be. As far as gambling I limit myself to the occasional lottery ticket and taking cases of White Castles on road trips.

Hung out in Deadwood SD pre and post gambling revitalization.

Liked it a lot more before.

Then again, I did not have to make a living there.