Casino: Losing money with joy

Apart from the waiter and three customers at the bar, the casino looked empty. Most gamblers would not come in at noon. From the anterior end of the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos Island, the door to the casino is very conspicuous and looks directly to the reception.
It is a closed compartment with an underground enclosure encompassing some inner rooms where some Lagos “big guys” make and lose money.
From the popular ‘Craps’, the complex dice-rolling game under the bridges in Lagos, gambling grows to such games as slot machines, Blackjack and Roulette, in the casino of various clubs and hotels.
At Eko Hotel, the casino opens in the morning but the gamblers stroll in at night. They come in and head straight to the bar to take some drinks. At about 6.00p.m, the bar receives more customers who now stylishly shake their heads and legs to the playing music.
Almost all the gamblers who visited the casino that night drank a small measure of alcohol, perhaps to prepare their minds for the risk ahead. With a sip of brandy or other such drinks, they moved to the games room, most of them foreigners of the Asian descent, to play for fun.
Murmuring in their local languages, it was a bit difficult for any spectator to understand their conversation except when they made big money, which intermittently aroused some noise and jubilation.
Of course, excitement is a common scene at the casino but not for a player who just lost a huge sum of money. There are occasions when gamblers visit the casino in exotic cars but leave shamelessly in scrap vehicles. The truth is that they bet with their property when they run out of cash.
Unlike the Eko Hotel where there is a bit of decorum, the casino at the Federal Palace Hotel, Ahmadu Bello Way, could be hot for a new comer. Gamblers and spectators are always welcomed by thick smoke of cigarette from the inside.
As a journalist, the best time to enjoy the place is during the presentation of prizes to winners.
Reporters are invited and lodged in rooms to cover the event, which usually takes place in the midnight.
The casino is a haven for ladies of easy virtue who prey on men with their striking look and seductive moves. They ensure that any lucky winner at the casino does not go home with his whole cash as they display their eye-catching nudity to entice the gamblers.
Beside the slot machine in which the player deposits a coin and pulls a lever to make three reels containing multiple symbols spin and roulette, which involves a spinning wheel with several numbers on it and a small ball, no other game is put in the open chamber of the casino.
Blackjack is a card game in which players try for a combination of cards closest to 21, without going over. In the game, number cards are their face value, kings, queens and jacks are worth 10, and aces can be worth one or 11.
This game is played in the inner room of the casino by very wealthy people and it is done with heavy cash. Two prominent Lagos residents patronise this inner room regularly. One of them has run bankrupt while the other one is still being sustained by his talent.
For blackjack, a single gambler can play with coins without gaining any profit for the whole day but for roulette, two or more people could play it. The players bet on what number the ball will land on when the wheel stops. They can bet on a combination of possible numbers for fewer odds.
Nobody is allowed to come into the casino with cameras as special security guards are strategically positioned to fend off any prying eyes.
While it may be exciting to make money at the casino, a lucky gambler seldom quits the arena with his lot because of his co-gamblers and the beautiful daughters of eve who would be waiting to share from the jackpot. Invariably, a gambler either loses his money to the game or to the dignified prostitutes at the arena.
As Mr. Rotimi Nureni puts it, “The sharing is a normal thing among gamblers. That is what they do.
They hardly take money home. It is either they lose all their money to the machines or share whatever gains they have made with their friends.”
Nureni has worked at the Eko Hotel for about 20 years. He told the Nigerian Tribune that he spent his leisure at the casino as a spectator but always watched with pain as players gambled their ways to penury with no sign of hurt on their faces.
He said, “Every night, these gamblers, including important people in the society, come around to waste their money and get back to their cars and zoom off as if nothing has happened to them. It is unbelievable. The whole thing looks to me as if they have been cursed,” he exclaimed.
From one casino to another, players have similar tales of woe but with optimism that they can still win the jackpot.
While the players refused to speak with the Nigerian Tribune, one of the guards at the casino reluctantly grinned, adding that many gamblers had made fortune at the casino while some had been wrecked financially.
“It is difficult to quit the game when you are in it. It is better for one not to get into it at all. It begins from the game of Craps under the bridge and grows to spin board that requires big money,” he said.
According to him, gamblers have lost millions and won millions of naira at the casino but they never stop coming. “Each time they win big money, they throw up a party for us to celebrate with them and if it is otherwise, they still feel as if nothing has happened. Gambling is a spiritual game,” he said.
Source http://tribune.com.ng/