One of the things our Palestinian friend really wanted to do while he was over here was to go to a casino, so on Saturday night we duly turned up at our city's premier gambling outlet.
I have never visited a casino, and my image of them is based largely on James Bond films, so I actually enquired whether I would require a DJ in order to secure entry. In the event, the only dress code was no trainers, and indeed, the place seemed peopled, not by urbane sophisticates with dazzling, jewel-bedecked blondes on their arms, but by a cross section of our city's low-lives and general scumbags.
I had decided in advance I would "spend" £100, giving the same amount to my wife. I had also decided on a "system" (all right, I know there's no such thing), namely the famous "Martingale" method which is applied to roulette. In this, a single unit is placed, say, on red. If it wins, a single unit is placed again on red. If it loses, the unit is doubled, and doubled again each time it loses until a win is secured, at which point a single unit is again placed. In theory it should work, though the system may require a big back-up of funds if there is a run of losses, because the doubling method very quickly stacks up. Especially in this case, where the minimum stake allowed on "evens" bets was £10. Then of course there is the small problem of the zero... In my case this was never a factor, because after only 3 spins of the wheel I was £70 down and unable to follow through, so I repaired to the blackjack table where my remaining £30 was clipped in less than 5 minutes. Neither Issa nor my wife fared any better, and after an hour we were skint, and down a total of £400.
They say you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose, and I at least managed to follow that axiom, but as an evening's diversion I can't say it's something I shall be repeating any time soon. If ever.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment