Today, my casino visit trips are often meeting up with friends on purposeful trips, with the occasional solo trip to relax. I enjoy both, but my earlier casino experiences were often linked to family.
My first ever experience with casino games was playing video poker with my grandmother. She was the one who taught me to use an entertainment budget, not the “milk money” as she put it. She was also the one who instilled that you can have fun, regardless of how much you were spending.
We’d bet a few quarters, win a couple of bucks, and hoot and holler like it was the biggest deal in the world. We’d stare at our cards, chant various little sayings based on what we needed, and hit the button. The ritual was often more fun than the winning or losing – a great lesson to learn earlier on. And we almost never spent more than $20 at a time.
Later on, a casino trip would often include my parents, but most often my mom. She was one of those penny slot players that just enjoyed the casino experience. Dad would often marvel about how they’d go on a weekend trip to the casino, he’d go to the sports bar while she was in the casino, and she’d not only make her money last all weekend, she’d often bring some home.
Mom’s side of the family lived in New Mexico, so we’d take trips out there periodically, and she had her favorite casino there, Isleta. One of my first casino visits ever was there, and when we’d go out there we’d stop in together.
Those trips tended to be bonding moments, both inside and outside of the casino, and it was an activity we had in common. One particular moment sticks with me to this day.
Our last trip to New Mexico together, they were doing hot seat drawings where each winner won $500. At the time they had a couple of side rooms where you could also play, and, knowing a drawing was coming up, I moved into the main room with the hopes I could hear it better.
And then the name was called – and it was mom’s.
In this hot seat format, once a name was called you had five minutes to get to the player’s club desk. I went searching for her, because I had a feeling she wouldn’t know what it was. Two minutes in, they announced her name again. In the distance I could hear her yell “Alright – I’m coming!”
She didn’t think she had been drawn – she thought I had been paging her to head out.
I quickly found her and said she needed to come with me to the player’s club desk. “Why?” “You just won $500!” “No I didn’t.”
I asked her to follow me. She asked if she could stop for a cigarette. I asked her to trust me. We get to the desk. They asked if she was the name called and she said yes. They put a piece of paperwork in front of her to review and sign. She asked me why. “You just won $500!” “No I didn’t.”
As someone who played small stakes at a time when slots weren’t so volatile, this was not the type of win she was used to getting. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was the most she ever won at one time at the casino. She always thought I was the lucky one, although even at that point in my life, it was largely my bets were already a bit bigger than she liked to play. I was a big $1 a spin better to her 20-30 cents. 50 cents was a lot for her.
And so she continued to refuse to believe she won. Not when she signed the paper, not when the player’s club team member gave her the slip to bring to the cashier.
It was only finally when we reached the cashier and they were counting out the $500 she looked at me, with a look like she was about to cry, and asked me “Did I really just win $500?” And when I said yes, she looked at the cashier, said thanks, picked up the cash and reached out for a hug. It was all a bit overwhelming for her.
The kicker was when she offered to buy me a beer. The drawing took place at 10; the bar at the casino closed at 10, so when we went over to the bar, which is the area she was leaving when I found her, it was closed. We opted for Subway instead.
Moments like these with mom and my grandmother are part of the fabric of my connection to casino trips. Both of them are no longer with us, so today my trips are frequently connected to chosen family, people who have become close friends within the community and enrich my life in so many ways.
A few years ago I went to a casino with a couple of close friends, and I had two free tickets to see a comedian (one of my friends had one for himself). The comedian was… OK, but very specific on topics. The enjoyment we had chit-chatting about the show, while hanging out at the casino playing, eating or relaxing in the hotel, made for a weekend we still talk about now.
Even when as a group we’re all not playing next to each other, we’re still sharing the visit together, enjoying a meal or a show, and collecting memories that mean a lot. I often don’t earmark a couple hours to see a movie, but hanging out at the casino is something that holds value.
It started with my grandmother and video poker, continued with mom, and still resonates as a place to spend time today with friends.
