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High Roller Betting
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By Richard Manning, Jr.
Take a gander at your last check stub. Hone your gaze onto the net amount that
was put into your bank account after the long string of taxes and other
deductions was removed. Think about how you split that wage into bills, food,
and other items that are vital to maintain the quality of life you enjoy.
Now, just for fun, think of taking that figure, rounding it up to the nearest
dollar, converting it into a thick stack of colorful casino chips, and gingerly
sliding it onto a blackjack table. Take it one step further, and pretend that
losing such an outrageous bet will not bring financial ruin to you or your
family. You can easily afford it in the way that you could currently afford to
drop a nickel into a five-cent slot machine. In fact, you can crack a joke with
the dealer after he pulls a 21 out of the 14 he originally started with,
squeaking past the twin jacks he dealt you. Sound insane? If you are a whale,
it is the only way to play.
A "whale" is shorthand for "outrageously rich person who can afford to drop
hundreds of thousands of dollars into a casino over a three day period without
blinking." It is typical for these kinds of high rollers to spend the average
casino dweller’s annual salary on only a couple hands of baccarat, simply
because they can. For them, going to a casino and losing huge sums of money as
if they do not need it seems to be a show of status, a borderline egocentric
gesture that inadvertently gives out the notion that the rich live better.
Naturally, the casinos love this kind of behavior, so they have no problem
giving them the best rooms, food, and even transportation at no additional cost
in exchange for their losses.
Of course, there are the occasions when a whale gets on a hot streak that lasts
for the duration of their stay. While it has never been enough to destroy a
casino-having a single person bankrupt a gaming facility is nothing short of a
myth-a weekend long run of good luck has been known to have a negative impact
on a casino’s quarterly earnings. However, the people that run the facility
know that kind of loss is only a temporary setback. It will easily be made up
by the next whale that swims into town, armed with the hundreds of thousands of
dollars stuffed in his wallet ready to be squandered, simply because he can.
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