STRANGE SLOT EXPERIENCES
The thrill and reality of life-changing jackpots
By Frank Scoblete
You sit down at a progressive slot machine offering 50 million dollars for the top prize. You put your credit ticket in and wham! You are now richer by 50 million bucks. I would think that many slot players dream that dream, a life-changing jackpot. I’m doubting anyone would turn such a jackpot down—even those players who think winning big is not in the cards for them.
Maybe even a few hundreds of thousands of dollars would suffice to get life on a keel that feels really keelish for most slot players. I am sure almost all would throw up their hands and shout for joy! Why not? A win is a wonderful occasion.
Yes, really big wins are strange since they happen somewhat infrequently in any given casino. Still, add up all the casinos in America (and in the world!) and such events do happen quite frequently indeed.
In fact, somewhere in the country it happens every week—at least wins in the millions—and across continents. Well, I am guessing it is hard to count how many have happened, say, last week.
All the lotteries in all the world must be handing out a lot of money each and every week. Maybe that’s why so many hopeful lottery players actually line up at ticket sellers. In my area, liquor stores even sell lottery tickets.
Have any of you had this happen to you; a giant jackpot that changed your life to a greater or even lesser extent? Or has such a thing happened to someone you know? Maybe a friend? Or a relative? Or even to someone sitting next to you at an adjoining slot machine? Or over in the next aisle so you are one of the first to see the joy on that person’s face?
Give it some thought.
I am guessing that many slot players have heard some monstrous shouting coming from somewhere in the casino, especially if they go to the casino frequently. I have. I saw a person win about $25,000. And another win $100,000.
I was excited for both of them. Not as excited, mind you, as I would have been had I won that amount. Still, I am always happy to see good fortune fall on those who deserve it. These ladies seemed to be deserving of a gift from the goddess of fortune. Lady Luck can sometimes bring good fortune.
And the undeserving? Should they receive good fortune? Not really. Good things shouldn’t happen to bad people. I think most of us feel that way. That crummy kid who tortured you in school? No wins for that person. That creepy relative? Forget it. Your ex? Come on.
Actually, during my petty moments (I am not perfect all the time) I take a look and a listen to certain players and I either wish them good or ill. The ill I wish is not as terrible as the ill delivered to the character Job in the bible. Job was a righteous man that God clobbered to test his devotion. I want something a little less than boils and sores all over the skin of the undeserving and no really horrible occurrences to members of their families. No, really, just some losses or a bad dinner or so.
[Please note: I am not talking about the greatly evil people. For them Iwish the slot machines fall atop them and do them in.]
For those people I like, which are most of them, I wish them good luck and plenty of wins. Yes, I feel that generous with the casinos’ money. Actually, those happy winners would be getting some of their own money back. Perhaps that can be considered justice.
As stated, I have seen a big win or two, but I have also seen people who are joyous because they claim that they knew they were going to win.
How strange is that? There was even a commercial some years ago about a man who knew without a doubt that he would win a giant slot jackpot. He dressed up in his favorite suit, shaved, put on his cologne and went to the casino.
Yes, he did win—a giant jackpot. He appeared in his own commercial. He told his story.
Now, I am skeptical about the psychic or the supernatural when it comes to games of chance and I wrote something dismissing this fellow and the casino that published and portrayed this fake news Then he called me. We had a long talk. He explained everything just as he had on television. He had given his real name in the commercial and he told me he would show the receipt to me so that I believed him.
I am guessing the guy was telling me the truth but the actual truth I heard was somewhat different. I believed he believed his strange experience but across America and in casinos all over the world are players who believe they have been given a special message or have had a certain feeling that they know they are going to win. Some will actually win; many more will lose.
I have had good feelings about winning on a certain trip and I have won. I have had feelings that I would win on other trips and I have lost. That’s the result of randomness coupled with our fevered imaginations.
All the best in and out of the casinos!
Frank Scoblete’s website is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries and at bookstores.
