It happened one night

10 May 2016

By Frank Scoblete

It is out there, somewhere, in some time, waiting for us: our greatest night in the casinos. The dream come true. It is there for us. You can just – just barely – grasp it.

For most slot players, that dream is often a dream fully, if not permanently, delayed. Those who wish to win Megabucks or Wheel of Fortune are generally spitting in the wind. (Now, that is a disgusting analogy.) But every slot player has had their greatest day or night, even if it isn’t the full revelation of the dream of winning 50 million dollars.

Let’s take a look at some of the best days and nights some inveterate slots players have experienced.

Mary: I play in Vegas about six times a year. I stay for four days each. I have been a slot player for 40 years. Boy, I am getting old! What was my best time? About 16 years ago I went on a winning streak for the entire four days I was at the casino. I don’t think I lost a session. Not every session was a big win. I played every type of machine. I’d win on quarter machines, dollar machines, five-dollar machines. I went up the ladder starting at a quarter. By the end of the trip I was playing at five-dollar machines. I won a lot of money. The most I ever won in my life.

Jo-Jo: One big win of about 10,000 dollars and then I had a two-day run after that. I won about 25,000 dollars altogether. It was magic. I felt I could never lose. I couldn’t wait to get to the machines. I played all day and most of the night. My husband had to drag me off the machines to get me to go to bed. That’s the only great run I ever had, but I am looking forward to at least one more in my life. As I said it was magic.

Connie: My greatest time at the slots? That’s easy. I won a big jackpot and a whole bunch of people gathered around as the bosses certified the win. People were congratulating me and one man smiled and said, “You deserved it, right?” He seemed like such a friendly man. Two years later we were married. That’s the biggest win I ever had at the slots: a great husband. He feels the same way. He didn’t even have to play the machines, and yet he won big time.

Benji: I am a young guy, so I am hoping that what I am about to tell you is surpassed in the upcoming years. My best night? Actually it was early morning, maybe five o’clock, and I was going to my room. I passed a group of slots just before you’d get to the elevators and I decided to play a line of them before I went into the elevator. I would play two spins on each machine and then go to the next. I think there were seven or eight of them. On the third machine, it was amazing. I must have won every other spin, some for big money. I never hit the jackpot but I got some of the higher pay lines. I spent about an hour there until the machine got a little cold and I almost crawled my way to bed. That was my best time ever – so far that is.

Jason: I don’t play slots. I play video poker. My greatest wins were in a 10-hour period when I hit two royal flushes! I went crazy. How amazing is that? I’ve had great days before and after that but I never won that kind of money and I never felt so thrilled. They royal flush is around a 40,000-to-1 situation, and I hit two in a 10-hour period. How do you spell “Wow!”

Melissa: I can’t pick a day, but I did have a streak that lasted seven daytime trips to Atlantic City. I won a lot of money. Every machine I went to was loose. Sad though it is, I’ve had many more days where the machines are like the North Pole. I couldn’t hit anything. But I do remember that seven-day streak with great fondness and I would love to do it again.

Tess: I am with my friend here today. I am not much of a gambler. I maybe play fifty dollars and if I lose that I am done for the day. So one time I am waiting for her and she is playing like crazy. I decide to take nine dollars and play a dollar machine, three reels, the old fashioned kind. So I never even got to put in the whole nine dollars. The very first spin I won like six hundred dollars. A couple of spins later, I won another six hundred dollars. Then I won a hundred here and there. I wound up with 15 hundred dollars all total. That was amazing.

So, who knows, maybe you will wind up having one of those dreamlike experiences. If you do win a dreamlike amount of money, make a dinner reservation for eight o’clock and toast your great success!


Frank Scoblete’s latest books are "I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps," "Confessions of a Wayward Catholic" and "I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack." Available from Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores.