Playing slot machines can be a great experience; that is, if things go your way. Playing slot machines can also be a humbling experience when the machine just dominates you and your money flows from you to the machine. Almost all slot players have been on each side of those experiences.
Today’s column will deal with disappointments.
Dating a High Price Model
My college years, many, many decades ago, and she was a pretty coed, a model who appeared on magazine covers, and boy, oh boy, was she a dream girl from afar. I’d observe her in the cafeteria.
“I’m going to ask her out,” I said to my roommate.
“Yeah, right,” he said. “Why would she go out with you? She could date any guy on campus. Okay, you’re not that ugly but still you aren’t Robert Redford.”
“I’m guessing most guys are afraid to ask her out because she is so beautiful. That’s my hidden secret of my taking this chance. Also, if she says no, so what? I can handle that. If she doesn’t want to go out with me, that means there is something wrong about her. Again, that’s how I figure it.”
“Oh, geez,” said my roommate. “You have such a strong sense of self, young man, a strong sense of self.”
So, I asked her out. (drum roll) She said, “yes.” I told her we’d go to a great restaurant and have a great meal and a fun evening. We couldn’t talk then and there because she had a class to go to. I told her I’d pick her up on Friday evening at 6 o’clock. It was all set.
The restaurant was a classy one. We sat down and I couldn’t wait for the dinner to be over and for me to take her back to her dorm. Why? She was so SO boring. Her talk always centered around her; not so much her ideas (she really didn’t have any that I could decipher), but her looks; all the things she had to do to her face and hair to be ready to be beautiful.
Her cheekbones were too high so she used blah-blah on those to reduce them. Her lips needed to be fuller so she put on two lipsticks (or something like that) and her eyes, blah-blah-blah. Her teeth blah-blah-blah. Her walk blah-blah-blah.
During this time the Viet Nam war was raging. I brought that up but it interfered with her discussion of her gums, her neck being too long and some freckles on her back that she didn’t like and should be removed.
I never asked her out again. Beauty is one thing, surely, but dull certainly trumps that. It did for me.
And that’s why I don’t play the progressive slot machines that offer rewards of millions of dollars. Oh, yes, surely, they are beautiful, offering up their life-changing jackpots, but they are beautiful in the same way my date was beautiful. She was all anticipation but no reward. Given time, in her case just one dinner, I preferred regular girls again, girls who had more on their minds than just their outstanding looks. And that goes for the machines too.
Am I Alone?
I think many progressive-jackpot players looking to cash in for millions of dollars ultimately begin to feel the same disappointment that I do with those life-changing slots. To play them, you must spend money but because those jackpots cost a lot of money for the casinos to create, the return on those machines is less than on the regular machines.
They are not satisfactory dates.
Given a little bit (or a little bit more) time on the machines; I think progressive players will leave those machines alone, or mostly alone, and head for the regular aisles of slots that might return some money to them for their spending. Those might be decent dates too. Slot players do want some return for their money. They don’t want to go to an expensive restaurant and listen to their date chugging through lists of her physical flaws.
Why Those Big, Beautiful Progressive Jackpots?
When this gorgeous girl would enter the cafeteria for a meal, every male head would turn towards her. I am sure that they all fantasized about dating her. That having her on their arms would be a magnificent delight. “Look at me guys; look who I am dating! I’m a big winner!”
Progressive slots (and multi-million-dollar lotteries) are just like that. The dream of accomplishing a big triumph seems out of this world and, yes, for almost all players, it is out of their worlds and sooner (or sometimes later) they move away from those slots.
I am guessing if you frequent the casinos mid-week, you will notice that far more players are playing regular slots and not too many (or almost none) are playing the progressives; otherwise, there would be far, far more progressives available. (This is a guess on my part based on my almost 40 years of experience.)
Winning money on the slots is fun. Pursuing a dream that does not come true and gives little in return seems to be something to avoid for the overwhelming percentage of players. At least with normal slots, you win here and there and that keeps you playing.
Would I ever recommend dating an amazing model? Not really.
All the best in and out of the casinos!
Frank Scoblete’s books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries, and bookstores.
This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.