Saturday, November 10, 2012

Mother's Gambling Tale



Today I drove my mother to the High Desert to see grandmother in her new nursing home. On the way, we passed by Casino Morongo. I asked, off handedly, why on earth people enjoy gambling so much?

Mom stopped, emphatically, and said, 'It is the best high in the world! It is better than food, better than sex. It is not the winning or losing, for if you lose, you say to yourself, next time I will win it back. But that is not the addictive part; it is the waiting to see what numbers come up, waiting to see if you win or you lose. Winning stays with you, it is the high that lasts for days. That is why people gamble. I only let myself gamble pennies (I won twenty seven dollars once), nickels...I never bet more than twenty dollars because I knew I would like it too much.'

I had known mom loves to gamble. For new years eve growing up we would always play craps as a family, gambling with poker chips. I would play the croupier, and the house. Dad used to play blackjack and read books about how to win between trips to Vegas. Many extended relatives in my family have the gambling bug...dipping into their retirement, taking day trips to Vegas without telling the spouse, and even losing millions gambling online.

I don't have that gene. It is not fun. I always saw gambling as someone taking my money!

But mom said, 'I stopped gambling. You know how dad and I used to take that bus for seniors to gamble? It was free. One day, met someone nice, a worker, who was working on the slot machine next to me. I am nice, so we talked. He had it open and was using screwdrivers inside of it and everything. I thought it was broken, so I asked.'
He said, 'Look lady, I like you. I wouldn't tell the others, but you are nice. This one has paid out for the day. I have to set it so it won't win for another twenty-four hours.'
Mom was shocked! 'You mean it is rigged? The machine doesn't love you and decide who will win?'
'No, ma'am', he replied, 'all of these games, what is inside, is all the same: it's Bingo. No matter how it looks, that is how it decides who will win. You know how to play bingo, like at church right? It's all Bingo.'
'Bingo? That is just a dumb game!' mom exclaimed.
'Bingo.'

She said that took all the fun out of it for her: why play a game of bingo that is rigged so you can't win?

I smiled and asked, 'Mom? Do you know who built all of the casinos in Vegas?'
'No. Who?'
'The losers.'

We had a good laugh about that.  Higher Discernment means you don't fall for that crap the Illuminati create that is 'fun'. I am so grateful to the 'nice man' who let her in on the real deal on slot machines.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc