One of my favorite Vegas stories involves a pretty risk averse friend of ours, LL, who went to Vegas for the first time during a New Year’s that I am sure she will never forget.

It’s actually a good tale of the magic that is Vegas.  Basically it goes like this…

“The Schinde” loves this slot machine at New York New York, called appropriately $100 or nothing.  Basically you put in a dollar and if you get 777 you win $100.  Anything else gets you nothing.  Easy enough.

So we find ourselves all kinda grouped around this machine watching one dollar after the next go in with no pay out.  Schnide is hypnotized by this machine and swears that it will pay out, it always does.  MDF’s wife was about to play since it was her turn, but was looking for a dollar.  While she is doing that, LL is on the phone with her mom telling her how much fun she is having even though she has not gambled one bit and we are on day 3 of the trip. 

I think it was Lori who convinced LL to put a dollar into the machine and give it a spin.  LL begrudgingly gives in and pulls out one of her hard earned dollars, puts it in the machine and pulls the lever.  And wouldn’t you know it, the tumblers on the machine read 777.

Now we are all freaking out to various degrees and the look on LL’s face was priceless.  She was still on the phone with her mom and was telling her how she won!  Total pandemonium.

So of course LL promptly hits the cash out button, grabs the winning ticket, cashes out, and never plays another thing while we are there.

Going home we were all doing the financial math in our heads, the obligatory “up or down” as one tends to do while leaving Vegas.  I think that LL was the only one who went home up, and by $99 at that!