It seemed certain. There was no way he could lose.
     He had all his “ducks in a row,” and he was destined to leave with much more money.
     The event was a round of roulette at one of the carnivals that used to arrive in town. This one, located in the Independence Street area, brought its share of carnies and more than its share of suckers.
     Let me explain:


     Five of us, my brother Severino, and our friends Chris, Levi and Tony and I, were among hundreds taking in the sights of a carnival in 1953. Tony, the most solvent of us, watched as a worker spun a wheel. The idea was to get the pointer to land on a card placed anywhere on the platform. The man we watched put down only one card and instantly won. He got two teddy bears which he bragged about to all who would listen.
     Tony had a wad of dollar bills and purchased ten cards for fifty cents apiece, assured that this would more than guarantee his chances of winning. He came so-oo close. The carny encouraged him to put down an additional 10 cards, and “I’ll tell you what—I’ll throw in five more for free.” The platform now was practically covered with cards, assuring about a four-out-of-five chance. As the wheel spun, all of us watched gleefully as the pointer went straight to one of Tony’s cards—and then it skipped over just one. Sorry!
     That should have taught us all a lesson. But undaunted, Tony plunked down five more dollars in addition to the carryover cards and took another spin. We did some quick mental calculations and determined that even if he won, the money he’d invested would exceed the value of the teddy bears.
     The last spin was another case of a guaranteed win. But whether by pure rotten luck and/or the use of an electromagnet, the arrow appeared to land on a card and then conveniently skip to the blank right next to it.
     Most of us soon came to realize how dramatically the odds are stacked against us. We also learned that it’s common for “shills” to be allowed an easy win at roulette so they can brag about the goods and thereby interest others in spending money.
     Tony’s experience turned out to be therapeutic. Because of that I’ve never acquired the slightest desire to risk money on a get-rich-quick scheme, of which there are many.
     I’m not against drawings or even an occasional game of bingo. Growing up in an environment in which adults played poker and Canasta, I enjoyed watching their strategy. But dreams of riches? No way!
     My only flirtation with drawings came when I worked at the Optic in the late ’50s. Merchants got together to offer turkeys, via a drawing at the Serf Theater. The Optic itself participated, and just for kicks, I put in two entries. The next day, among the thousands of entries, I actually won two turkeys. Henrietta Salazar, who was one of the young women to draw the names out of the barrel, said that two of the five she drew were mine.
     Well that was enough luck to last a lifetime. Whereas others might be tempted to go for bigger stakes, I was content with my tryptophan high wrought by the turkeys.
     I have never bought a lottery ticket or anything called the Power Ball, nor have I ever had an interest in pyramid schemes.
     Two weeks ago we stayed on the strip in Las Vegas, surrounded by zillions of slot machines. At our hotel, at least, there appears to be a dress and age code: Nobody may use the slots unless at least 85. Women must wear a beehive hairdo, false fingernails and have a cigarette attached to the non-slot-machine-arm-pulling limb. By rule, men must appear bored, agree to remain in one spot for six hours, have a ponytail and lots of turquoise.
     The management also reserves the right to eject patrons who show evidence of having taken in any amount of sun in the past year.
     Gambling entrepreneurs have the human psyche all figured out. They realize that people react favorably to certain sounds, especially those that indicate someone is winning. It’s pleasant hearing the computerized jingle of coins.
     We learned from a veteran employee of the Plaza Casino, that the slots aren’t always paying off then they make those melodic sounds. He demonstrated this by showing us a nickel machine that paid off a whopping two dollars, for a fifty-cent investment. Yet, the length and volume of the tones made it seems as if the patron had won $10,000. Naturally the ambient sounds are bound to draw a crowd.
     On the way to Las Vegas we noticed billboards with messages like “Carl won $363,000 at ______ Casino.” Strange that we never see TV or newspaper ads, or billboards announcing that “Ramon lost his house, car and wife to gambling,” or “The bills Harold has to pay his psychiatrist far outweigh anything one could win here.” A close acquaintance of ours likes to tell of the time she lucked out and won $10,000 in Las Vegas. What she failed to point out was that in the remaining four days of her stay there, every penny of those winnings went right back into the slots.
     Casino operators like to tout the names of winners, those who leave with a few thousand dollars extra. However, the real winners are the casinos themselves.

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