Sinatra_Z - So I walked into a Casino

Went to Genting the other day,

wanted to drink coffee in a cooler weather so that I can pretend that I actually drink Starbucks at New York.Ok yeah, poser in the highest degree but let's just say I was bored and Genting was just 20 minutes away so there I went.Upon arriving heard that the chinese dudes wanted to gamble for a bit so I decided to see what's the hoopla was all about.

Of course me being a Muslim we are prohibited entering a Casino (by Malaysian Law) but I figure if a baju Melayu clad uncle can get away buying Sports Toto on a friday afternoon I might as well try to check it out, it's NOT that I'm going to gamble anyway. Apparently the officers did try to stop me at the entrance, but me being me all excited simply dashed inside while they were calling

"Abang... bang... bang!"

In the end Carmen had to take the heat when the police officer, failing to stop me asked Carmen for her MyKad.

Anyway enough of that.

I have seen gambling parlour before in the form of horse racing slot machines cum a snooker centre mushrooming a while back around KL and Selangor but after the crackdown the only gambling thing that I ever witnessed was the betting during World Cup amongst my fellow peers. So when I entered the casino hall called "Hollywood" I was taken aback at how different it was. Instead of the image of nice sharp dressed looking people throwing cards and drinking martinis (Casion Royale of James Bond) the whole damn place looked like an arcade.

I still can't shrug off the Image of a 60 plus year old Uncles and Aunties playing "Star Wars" slot machines trying to get pictures of Darth Vader and Star Destroyers alligned three in a row.

It was quite fun though when Jason Chua became my tour guide, explaining and guiding me through the various games around the casino, from table to table. We watched people played Baccarat, Roulette, Poker, Dice and etc. It hit me then (to the amusement of Jason Chua) that most of these games (if not all) require very little intellectual or brain activity.

So throw away that scene in "God Of Gambler" where Chow Yun Fatt does that awesome card thingie where they try to calculate and bluff each other with their cards. NO, in a Casino, they try to have a minimal drama as possible because the more time spend on fancy card moves the less time they have in screwing over your money.

Perhaps the most mindless game of them all when Jason pointed me out to a table in which he describes as

"The fastest way to lose or win your money, mostly losing lah, hahaha"

It was this game in which the banker takes a card, then you take a card, then place your bets, both opens it and the bigger card wins.

"Eh Chua, game ni siapa card besar menang eh?"

"Yup! Hahahaha"

"Gila bangang!"

"Do you know that the minimum bet for this game is 50 ringgit."

Holy crap, throw away the image of sharply dressed spies and young women throwing dice over a table, majority of the place is filled with senior citizens spending away their savings and pension.

After that night I realised that amongst the vices, gambling (especially gambling at a casino) are probably the vice that I least understand. I mean say that you commit adultery or spend your hard earned money on prostitute, I get it, you waste your money on a service, fine, so yeah you can give yourself a hand job but you think that masseuse gives you more pleasure, it sounds stupid but hey at least you're paying for something that you get! Or the fact that you blow your money on drinking, okay it's expensive and in the end all you're going to do is get a hangover and throw up. But hey at least there's that momentarily intoxication, you actually getting something for your money, a product, a fancy looking water that makes women prettier, I get it. But gambling? Especially in a Casino where you know damn well the Odds are ridiculously stacked up against you, the fact that you put money to lose money in a game that you have very little control over, that I do not get. Literally you have people, putting money on the table, then he looks at the croupier shuffling cards, throwing ball or tossing dice and then take that money away from you. In certain cases you don't even get to hold the damn card.

But I guess it made sense when Tommy Sky puts it this way

"It's the act of Purchasing a Dream"

Which is why some commit suicide, I mean what's the point of living when you have lost your dreams.