Social Sue's Slot Society

15 June 2021

By Frank Scoblete

Some people do the casinos in their own way. That is, they enjoy going to the casinos but gambling isn’t their primary concern; socializing is primary for them.

Atlantic City has a small club, called Social Sue’s Slot Society, that has a dozen members. These are ladies in their late 70’s and early 80’s who enjoy day trips to the casinos. They take the bus once a week.

“We go once a week just about all of us every week,” states Millie. “We take the casinos up on their special daytime promotions, lunch, drinks, match play and other types of offers.”

Janette adds, “We owe it all to Sue. None of us are big gamblers and we are all low-level slot players. But we wanted a nice place to hang out and enjoy ourselves. Most of us are widows living in adult communities.”

“That means communities where we won’t tell you how old you have to be to live there!” laughs Alice.

So, who is Sue and what did she create?

About a decade ago when the ladies would occasionally go to Atlantic City, most found that they seemed somewhat lost.

“We weren’t big spenders but, you know, honestly we wanted to get away from our day-by-day lives. But we didn’t want to get into a gambling routine; most of us are on social security and small pensions. Atlantic City is a beautiful place to visit in all seasons but you don’t want to be paying a big expense to go there. Sue solved that for us.”

I talked to Sue on one of my many trips to Atlantic City. We sat outside Bally’s on a beautiful early summer’s day.

“I gathered about a half dozen women together and sold them on this idea. We buy those daytime bus tickets to Atlantic City. We pool all of our match play coupons and just play one machine for maybe a half hour, then we go to the Boardwalk, maybe have some ice cream or do some inexpensive shopping to buy stuff for the grandkids or great grandkids.

“Then we have lunch at the buffet and head outside again. We socialize with each other or anyone who wants to have a pleasant conversation. Somewhere in late afternoon we head back to the casino and play the remaining money in the machine.

“We have our method of playing. We do one coin in a regular machine. If we are ahead, we take our win and end the play. If we are behind we play through the coupons but that is all we do. We will only allow ourselves to lose the coupons.

“The trip is not very expensive and we have good companionship.”

Alice added, “Sue doesn’t give herself enough credit. We call her ‘social Sue’ because she is the impetus behind what we do. We even have tee-shirts that say ‘Social Sue’s Slot Society” or SSSS. Every week we have one day of a nice vacation. We have Sue to thank for that.”

Is this a crazy idea? Absolutely not. Casinos and casino towns are great places to visit even if your gambling is somewhat small. There is a lot to see, yes; and there are people who want to socialize as do the Social Sue's Slot Society members. Maybe on your next trip to Atlantic City you can find them enjoying an ice cream and an enjoyable conversation while sitting on the benches of the Boardwalk.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books and at bookstores.