51 Casino Grand (IX)

Richard froze in his tracks.

Normally, he would want his gamblers to play as long as possible. The longer they played, the more likely it was that the odds would catch up and take the casino's toll.

This was common statistical knowledge. The more times you ran a trial, the more likely it was that the result would converge towards the expected value. Since all the games in the casino had a negative expected value for the player (that is, the odds and payouts were weighted in favor of the casino), then the longer a player played, the more likely it was that he or she would lose and lose big. This was the law of large numbers.

On the other hand, Richard had never seen a gambler like Mr S before. He defied all the odds and all the probabilities. The only large number law that seemed to apply to Mr S today was how his stack of chips kept growing. Richard was now in no doubt that if he encouraged Mr S to continue playing, Mr S would continue winning.

Maybe he would continue winning until the casino belonged to him, and it was renamed the Casino Sanjay.

Worst still were the hanger-ons. While Mr S had the decency to lose a couple of hands every now and then, almost all of the other gamblers at the table were riding a streak to end all streaks. Some were openly boasting about buying a new yacht and remodeling their mansions.

Richard made a quick mental calculation - this table had probably lost more than eight figures in the last four hours. It was a disaster of monstrous proportions. He longed for the Mr S of last week, who came in, lost all his money, and left with a smile.

"Ah, Mr S. I believe you have more than met the time requirement for our agreement to be counted. Even if you're slightly under, we will honor the original agreement." Richard choked out.

"Are you sure Richard? Given my luck today, I'd hate to have you think that I'm hitting and running." James asked, twisting the knife a little.

Richard cursed inside his head. Whatever voodoo or good luck charm Mr S was using, it was a good one. Maybe if Mr S took a break and came back tomorrow, the casino would win back all of the money.

"Of course Mr S. You've been more than fair with giving us a shot at your money. In fact, you must be tired from all this hard work. Why don't we take a break for the night? Is there anything I can arrange for you in terms of entertainment? I would be more than happy to have the arrangements waiting in the suite for you." Richard asked, hinting strongly that James stop for the night.

"Well... I'll be honest Richard. I am getting kind of tired of the table games..." James started, shining a ray of hope onto the desolation of the casino floor.

"However, I think I'd like to give the slot machines a try." James finished. That ray of hope rapidly turned into despair.

Surely, surely. Surely the strange run of luck would not continue at a slot machine. Richard thought to himself desperately.

The slot machines were purely unfeeling machinery - hardware and software designed for the sole purpose of providing a dopamine fix to the gambler while slowly but steadily sucking away at his lifeblood.

Ask Richard on any other day, and he would swear on his soul that getting a gambler on the slot machines was always a good thing for the casino. Today, however, he felt a tiny chill spreading down his back.

"Are you sure Mr S? It is getting pretty late, and they'll always be there for you tomorrow. I'd hate myself if I didn't offer you the hospitality of the casino." Richard tried saying.

"Of course Richard! The casino has treated me so well, it's only right that I go feed some of the machines." James said in a fair imitation of Richard's tone.

"Well, alright Mr S. I hope you don't mind if I tag along with you? I've never seen anything quite like today. I'd love to see your run of luck continuing." Richard said falsely. If he could not stop James from gambling, maybe he could jinx him.

"I don't mind at all. Perhaps you could be so kind as to cash me out? I'd take another cashier's check for a million, and change the large portion of my chips over to slot credit please. Anything under a thousand is my tip for the dealers." James answered kindly.

Upon hearing his decision to stop, the rest of the baccarat table scrambled to cash in their chips as well, throwing hundred dollar chips at the dealers for their role in the massacre.

As James stood up clutching his slot voucher for ten thousand dollars, he was greeted by a standing ovation and cheers from the rest of the high limit players. This was normally a scene reserved for a hot hand at the craps table, but with James at the wheel, the baccarat table had printed money like it was the mint.

James waved his hands politely, before making his way over to the high limit slot area.

"How's this Richard. I know it's late, and you probably have a family to go home to, so I'll limit myself to one spin. Let's find a ten thousand dollar maximum bet machine, doesn't matter what type, and we'll put this in. Win or lose, I'll stop after one spin." James offered.

"I think that sounds like a bold move Mr S. I admire your vision and ingenuity. We can take the winnings from today and multiply them again tomorrow once you've had a chance to rest." Richard said, continuing to kiss ass. James was holding on to two million of the casino's dollars, and Richard would say whatever it took to make sure it came back to the casino.

The duo arrived in front of a five thousand dollar, two credit slot machine. It was the only one of its kind in the casino, and had seen little use.

In fact, the casino executives had argued multiple times for it's removal, and a smaller machine to be installed in it's place. It was taking up valuable floor space in the high limit room that could be used more profitably, and it was large enough that very few gamblers could afford to or would want to give it a try.

However, it had survived mostly as a marketing gimmick, and as a way to subtly tempt the high limit players to play the five hundred to one thousand dollar games. Compared to this machine, those were much more affordable.

If those casino executives had known that the God of Gamblers was coming today, that machine would have been taken out of service without debate.

James inserted his credit voucher and turned to Richard.

"Are you allowed to press the button for me, do you think?" James asked.

"I'm sorry Mr S. While I won't deny that a large part of me has always wanted to try this machine, I'm not allowed to play on your behalf." Richard stammered out.

"Ah, such a shame." James said.

[ Do you want the big jackpot? It pays a thousand to one for a ten million dollar hit. ]

No, just the second highest at a hundred to one. James thought. There's something poetic about winning a million from each game, and besides, if I hit this for ten million, I'd probably get blacklisted. A three million dollar total win is still believable, but twelve million would probably beggar belief.

[ Spoilsport. ]

James pressed the button and watched the reels intently. Half a step behind him, Richard was doing the same.

"Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss." Richard muttered under his breath, doing his best to jinx the spin while making sure that James could not hear him.

Triple Bar. Triple Bar. Triple Bar. Winner!

The congratulatory music and ringing of the slot machine brought Richard back to his senses. Of course Mr S would win. After his performance today, it was evident that his win was written in the script.

"Congratulations Mr S. Another million dollars!" Richard choked out once more.

"Thank you Richard! Today has been beyond my wildest imaginations. I'll take all three cashier's checks now please." James said, "I think given the profile of my wins, it's probably best I don't spend the night. I'd hate to have someone knock down my door because they think I'm an easy mark."

"I assure you that your physical security will be our highest priority Mr S." Richard said a little indignantly.

"I don't doubt that, but accidents do happen. Don't worry. I'll leave my front money with the cage, and come back in a couple of weeks. This will definitely have to be a regular haunt of mine going forwards." James said reasonably.

Then, without much further ado, James left the casino with three million dollars in hand.

The legend of Sanjay continued.

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AUTHOR NOTE:

Some slight delays to the upcoming chapters due to RL commitments and a story line fork.

We will be back on track soon.

Thank you for following along.

Shout out to @Heavenly_Daoist - as long as my readers continue reading, I will continue writing.

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