Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in New York City. He has written extensively on gambling for publications such as Wired, Playboy, Cigar Aficionado, New York Post and New York Times. He is the author of four books including Aces and Kings: Inside Stories and Million-Dollar Strategies from Poker’s Greatest Players.
He’s been known to do a bit of gambling when the timing seems right.
It’s 4 in the morning at Durango Casino and Resort. You’ve been riding the gambler’s roller coaster all night long, swinging between wins and losses, pressing bets and taking walks when they seem appropriate.
Though new slot machines pop up all the time and it can sometimes seem like they grow on trees, as if each one is some kind of a natural resource. Of course, in reality, that is not the case.
Walk through a brick-and-mortar casino or log on to 888casino and the slot machines are impossible to miss. Chinese themed Zodiac Lantern Rabbit, the enticing Cash Eruption and jewel-centric Sapphire Spin are all amazingly alluring.
We all hope to hit it big at the casino. For most of us, winning a few thousand dollars would be the dream come true. Then there are those who lived the dream writ large. They won millions instead of thousands, and the payoffs were life changing.