Super Casino: Inside the “New” Las Vegas

Real gambling is standing at a craps table and shooting the dice with your entire paycheck spread out on the numbers. It’s knowing if the dice hit, you are going to win two or three or maybe five times your weekly salary, and if they don’t hit, then you will be broke for the entire week without even enough for a can of dog food.

You see, it’s not really about money. It’s about risk.

You ever go to the circus? I remember as a kid watching a guy do all sorts of flips and twirls and turns, and he was really, really good. The next week, this guy came out and he couldn’t do half the acrobatic stuff the other guy had done, but it was much, much more exciting and you want to know why?

Because he didn’t have a net. You knew if he missed that bar, he was going to fall and die.

I have felt that same psychological rush gambling. When I gamble, I am having the best time of my life and I am having the absolute worst time too. I’m talking about those nanoseconds when you are waiting for that card to fall or the white ball to drop into a red or the black or the dice to stop rolling. It can be absolutely terrifying and absolutely beautiful.

You are standing there wishing like hell that you hadn’t risk your complete paycheck. You are thinking, “Am I nuts? What am I going to do if I lose!” You are terrified and you are also totally alive.

Your every sense is primed and as you stand there, you suddenly begin believing, “I’m going to do it!” You tell yourself, “I’m going to hit it big!”