Casinos
The Difference
By Jan Bobbitt
Jul 5, 2001, 18:42

Something seemed out of place, different, unusual.  Although the atmosphere appeared the same as any other casino I was sure there was something unfamiliar about the room.  There were slot machines and card dealers.  Patrons perched contentedly in their seats as many held a drink or cigarette in one hand and played their chosen game with the other.  A cashier's cage stood in the corner and looking around a waitress interrupted my view as she passed by toting her tray of beverages.  It was my first time in an Indian casino.  I had heard the experience would be as any other casino visit, but as I stood there I wondered why I was positive that something was not the same.  Off in the distance I saw a restaurant and to my left a slot machine attendant was opening a machine.  Smoke filled the air and I found reprieve in the no-smoking section, a room isolated from the main casino floor.  Within moments a waitress asking if I would like a beverage greeted me.  My naivete showed as I asked for a vodka tonic and was informed that there was no alcohol served.  "Oh," I thought, "so there was a difference-but surely not the difference I was able to sense when I first arrived."  I opted for cola and turned my attention back to my game.  After three of my crisp five-dollar-bills were spent, I decided to move to another machine.  Looking around for the usual coin cups available near all slots I was disappointed not to find any.  With a mental shrug, I decided I would worry about the spill tray filling up after my big win and I began feeding my newest choice of hungry machine.

Soon I had won a $250 jackpot and decided it was time to visit the cashier's cage in the main casino.  I pushed the 'cash out' button and heard the slot machine make an odd typewriter or printer sound.  For a moment I thought the machine was malfunctioning and then a piece of paper quietly floated down into the spill tray.  Paper?  Not one cha-ching, no clank of metal on metal, no need to worry about coins spilling onto the floor - indeed there was no sound of coins hitting the coin tray filling the air.  Thinking back over the short time I had been in the casino I realized what was out of place, the background noise of slot machine coins, was nowhere to be found.

I knew something was different.

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