We prefer convenience to cost. Last time we rented a furnished house, drove our van with children and their families, and had fun. But this time around, when we saw a three-day package to Las Vegas by a tour operator and many members of the Indo-American Cultural Association racing to enroll, our preference took a U turn. We began to see the finer points in a group tour: you meet fresh faces, move with new people, and make many friends. The reasonable fare included transport, accommodation in a five-star hotel, and three complimentary buffet lunches and one dinner. “This is it, and we make it,” my wife and I said and jumped on the bandwagon. We roped in our friends Marathi and Kannada couples, also. Apart from the six of us, the Indian contingent consisted of 21 more, all from Gujarat fraternity.
The game plan of the sponsors for such a low-cost offer is this. The Casinos are located on the ground floor of the skyscraper hotel. You are there for three days, and have to pass through the casino for coffee, breakfast, lunch, shopping – everything. So they expect you to try your hands at the slots on a modest scale to begin with. But with so many Indians in the group and their mental makeup we were sure this trip would be a loss, and the organizers would write it off to ‘Indian influx.’
Out in the open from the gambling den in Vegas, a fantastic world with marvels of modern architecture awaits you - hotel Bellagio, their registration lounge (in itself a feast for the eyes), their exhilarating fountain-show, Caesar’s Palace, The Venetian, The Treasure Island, and the evening shows at the Fremont Square, renovated at a cost of $ 30 million to add extra pixels in order to improve sharpness of images. The Christmas festive decoration was a bonus. A penguin in its snow-covered home peeping out alternately from its main door and the rooftop, the life-like Santa Claus ever ready to oblige, the huge artificial bells hanging as though all set to chime, and the Christmas trees with gifts carefully hidden here and there, all made us feel we have recovered value for our money.
Many in the group were tried and tested hands. One lady makes it a few times annually. An Indian-American doctor in Chicago is invited annually with all expenses paid. He carries $ 50,000/ to play around.
Exchanging day’s score, one enterprising Gujarati said on day One, “Well, I have lost just $40/, and I have a ceiling of $200/-, so I still have $160 for the next two days.” Another joined the group coming all the way from Idaho.
In our sub-group, my wife was game, and so was the Kannada lady. The Marathi lady was fifty-fifty. Among gents, I was not interested; the Kannadiga swore he wouldn’t play, and the Marathi was noncommittal. Thus my wife and the Kannada lady made a beginning, with the pendulum swinging in favour and against. Wednesday, is not a lucky day for me, announced my wife after a while as a ploy to get me to play. I did, and the first dollar got me $ 3.25. I went and cashed my first ever easy-money in life. Then I tried another dollar. It fetched me $ 3.05. I cashed it. The End I said, and gave the money to my wife, to play if she wanted. I reckon our net gain at $3.
The Kannada couple meanwhile was found missing. There at a corner my friend was glued to the machine, busy playing – yes the one who swore. At the end of the trip, their loss was around $10.
The Marathi couple entered the arena backed by experience. Their son and d-i-l were in Las Vegas a few days earlier and had earned $150/-. They went for a full blast till the figure touched zero. So the parents decided they would exit on high, which they did. They gained $5.
Not satisfied at individual performance, some of our Gujarati friends pooled money together, and went for a final unified assault before boarding the bus to Phoenix. They pulled the handle vigorously taking turns, some silently praying their favourite God, but luck evaded them. Die-hards, they shouted jointly, “doesn’t matter, there is always a next time,” which there is. The next bus leaves on 27 December, and we learn it is getting full. Wonder how many have re-booked.
There is no such thing as free lunch, it turned out, disproving our prediction of loss to sponsors.
V.V. Sundaram
12 December 2011
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