Growing up in New England, there was one commercial that had a chokehold on me every time it came on. That commercial was none other than the Foxwoods musical number that hinged around the lyrics “meet me at Foxwoods.”
Despite being nowhere near gambling age, when I would hear the first notes ring out from a giant TV, everything else stopped. I’d literally put down whatever I was doing or jump from the couch to treat (subject) my parents to a dramatic dance number. Never in my wildest dreams, after screeching the lyrics to the commercial for literal years, did I think I would find myself at the casino for a work adventure.
I am using the term really loosely here, I didn’t “work” overly hard at all, but I did help alphabetize some merch and in the morning attempted to film some videos for Flip The Switch. Before I knew it, it was time for our group to head to lunch.
After lunch, Brian had asked for my help as well as some assistance from the one and only Carol. If you have been to a Brian Christopher event over the past few years, there is a high probability you have met Carol. She is an OG BCSlots supporter and one of his longtime Youtube moderators. Carol recently retired and loves any opportunity to accompany Brian on his many adventures both on land and sea. While we didn’t know exactly what Brian had in mind when it came to helping, we were soon to find out he had a surprise up his sleeve.
Brian surprised Carol and I with the opportunity to film a week’s worth of videos. I don’t want to spoil the theme of the videos but I will let you know it involves a series of bets, some larger than others. Let’s just say that the most I will typically gamble is $5 per spin, and Carol will gamble even less than that. Brian was gambling so, so much more. Keep an eye out for me and Carol and our anxiety in upcoming videos! The large bets made Carol and I very concerned and at one point, Brian joked that he could feel the nervous energy radiating from us as we exchanged glances from behind his chair.
The following day is when the actual action kicked off. Brian was in town for a joint event with Mr. Handpay. For the event, Brian and Mr. Handpay hosted an almost all day affair of hot seat drawings. These drawings kicked off right at 8AM and appeared to bring an impressive amount of people out to the casino floor for being that early in the morning.
During “$10,000 Hot Seats with Mr. Handpay and Brian Christopher,” as long as a player registered in advance and were actively playing, they were eligible to win. They were winning the chance to spin with either Mr. Handpay or Brian through $10,000 of Bonus Slot Play. Whatever was left at the end of the spins, was the winner’s to keep!
While I am happy for all winners, there was a couple that I was chatting with at the Dunkin earlier in the morning. I was talking to them about growing up in the area and my affinity for a nice iced coffee despite the nor’easter that was hitting the area. If you are from New England, you know that the best time to have an ice coffee is any time but there is something about slurping down an iced beverage in inclement weather that really hits the spot. Back to the point.
After gallivanting around the casino for a few hours, Carol and I returned to find Brian to see which lucky winner was filming with him. To my absolute delight, it was my friends from Dunkin earlier in the morning. I can’t remember their names (sorry, Dunkin’ friends) but I can tell you they were a super sweet couple that have been together for forty years. The lucky winner was the wife of the pair and she was able to convert the $10,000 hot seat prize into an amount north of $12,000.
After the hot seat drawings, there was a little bit of downtime before it was time for the second part of the day’s plans, an evening with Brian Christopher and Mr. Handpay. This event was set up like a meet and greet meets question and answer series. Attendees at the event enjoyed an open bar, photo opportunities, and about an hour of dialog from the creators that centered around player submitted questions.
In addition to the schedule of actual events, highlights of my weekend included a team dinner at Martha Stewart’s new restaurant, The Bedford. The opulent baked potato did catch my eye but I settled on a taste of home going with a solid clam chowder. I was also very excited to meet up with some college friends that made the drive in from New York. It is always very hard for me to articulate what exactly it is that I do for a profession, so it felt amazing to share that part of my life with my friends that knew me before I entered the world of casino operations.
As quickly as I arrived back home in New England, I was off back to another home from a different life- Las Vegas. This time I was set to link up with Josh to help cover the annual gaming conference of the year, G2E.
If you’re looking to join a Brian Christopher event, or cruise, you can check out his upcoming schedule here.
