How did you end up slotting/gambling?

[Gambling girl]

We used to live in Northern California so when you turned 21 you went to Reno, NV. I guess I always liked it but it wasn't that big of a deal until my husband & I got comped a sweet at Harrahs Lake Tahoe about 15 years ago. We got a phone call from the players club saying "come down to pick up your Platinum card" So now I'm thinking they got the wrong people because we weren't big gamblers!! I was so afraid they were going to kick us out of our suite & say they made a mistake!!

Anyway, they did upgrade us to Platinum & I WAS HOOKED !! So we started to go ALOT.. So now we live in AZ & go to Laughlin quite a bit & Las Vegas a couple of times a year. My husband is on dialysis & it is hard to get away for more than a couple of days at a time. He always goes with me to Laughlin & he enjoys gambling also!

I love this forum because I can be honest about spending my money gambling.. I usually don't say to much to our family & friends, don't think they woul understand.

[michelelovesvegas]

This is a great thread. Even though I replied to how I got hooked, after a few of you went back to childhood, the proverbial bells went off.

Father and Uncles playing poker in the basement in Upstate NY. My father had to go the bathroom, told me to play his hand. Probably 9 years old. Got a full house and wanted to raise and no one would let me. My father was pissed when he got back!!!

Grandmother was a bingo fanatic in Dubois PA, playing also in basements, usually at churches!! She would spread out the whole table in cards and had to use markers or daubers. Kid could play then. She could keep up with her cards as well as mine. When the parlors weren't opened, we played penny ante at home, bingo, gin rummy, whatever. Always for money.

Husband and I went to Bahamas 10 years back. Went to the casino. Had no idea what we were doing. Would hit on a 17 to try and get 21. That's the point - right? Won $4000.00 that night.

Went back the next, it was so easy. Lost $5000.00.

My mom is a degenerate gambler so I got it honest. Sure if my Dad was still alive, I would be having a blast with him too.

[foobear]

When I was 5, my dad taught me how to play blackjack as a way to learn how to add and subtract. Soon after, he taught me to play poker. We'd play with pennies and nickels. I was about 6 when he started to teach me about odds to learn multiplication and division. I suppose my fate was sealed after that. In college, I used to clean out the boys at their Saturday night games. But I didn't starting slotting until my first trip to Vegas in 2008. I was hooked on the city and the gambling immediately. Didn't win anything significant but the whole experience was addicting.

[pkspins]

I grew up gambling. I was brought up Catholic. All those church festivals had so much gambling. Bingo. Chuck-A-Luck. That other wheel one like Chuck-A-Luck except it had bills ($1,$5,$10) on it. Those pull tab tickets. All those spin the wheel games where you bet on a number and if the wheel landed on your number you won a prize like a stuffed animal or a doll, and if it landed on your number in the red section you got one of the bigger prizes. The really big festivals had basement back room poker where the church got a portion of the pot and where they made the big money that let them charge 10 cents for a piece of pizza upstairs lol.

Do festivals have those games any more? Most of the ones I went to as a kid don't happen any more because the churches have closed or whatever. But last year we were traveling and ended up going to a church festival we saw signs for. Mainly to eat, but I was hoarding quarters and dollar bills all day thinking I could play some chuck a luck. They didn't have anything.

[SME]

My first trip to a casino was shortly after I turned 21, with my parents on a trip to Foxwoods. I remember losing and didn't "love" it so I never went again.

Fast forward to age 25 when Jeremy proposed. We both wanted a small, low key wedding... but our parents had other plans. Mine had been planning my big fat italian wedding probably since birth, and Jeremy's family also wanted a grand affair, so our low key vision wasn't really an option. We didn't want to hurt our parents and got kind of swept up in it. One day I was fed up and threatened that we would go to vegas to elope because I hated all the wedding planning.

So when we booked a weekend in Vegas a few months before our wedding, everyone else thought we would do what we threatened.

Well, we didn't elope. But we had a great time, staying at Excalibur and even hit a "jackpot" on a quarter powerball machine. And it started. We said we would go back for our first anniversary. And we did. And every year since then for the past 9 years

[Kimsa70]

I grew up gambling. I was brought up Catholic. All those church festivals had so much gambling. Bingo. Chuck-A-Luck. That other wheel one like Chuck-A-Luck except it had bills ($1,$5,$10) on it. Those pull tab tickets. All those spin the wheel games where you bet on a number and if the wheel landed on your number you won a prize like a stuffed animal or a doll, and if it landed on your number in the red section you got one of the bigger prizes. The really big festivals had basement back room poker where the church got a portion of the pot and where they made the big money that let them charge 10 cents for a piece of pizza upstairs lol.

Do festivals have those games any more? Most of the ones I went to as a kid don't happen any more because the churches have closed or whatever. But last year we were traveling and ended up going to a church festival we saw signs for. Mainly to eat, but I was hoarding quarters and dollar bills all day thinking I could play some chuck a luck. They didn't have anything.

Pkspins, I, too used to go to Catholic church fairs and play the spin wheel game. I remember always winning betting on #14, and getting a stuffed animal. Yes, they still have those games at fairs.

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[pkspins]

Pkspins, I, too used to go to Catholic church fairs and play the spin wheel game. I remember always winning betting on #14, and getting a stuffed animal. Yes, they still have those games at fairs.

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I'm glad they still do. I used to have so much fun and win so much stuff. Times were different then....our parents could just give us a bunch of dimes and quarters and let us go. My most memorable win was on the basket of cheer wheel. Kids were allowed to play it, but if we won we had to go find a parent and bring them over to select a prize. A bunch of us kids were playing it because it was something to do and the other wheel's prizes were kind of lame. My number hit on the red section so I had to go get my dad to come pick up the laundry basket of liquor I won. My parents didn't drink so we had booze for guests for a couple of years.

[Skyler]

My grandmother started all if us on vegas. She used to go during the end of the rat pack era and always glamorized vegas. My first time to vegas was a road trip with my family when I was 3. They brought my great grandmother so she could babysit and my grandmother, mom, and uncle could party! The day we left we ate at the buffet at the Hacienda (where Mandalay bay is now) and everyone got food poisoning except me and my great grandmother, the only two who couldn't drive! So, the three others took turns driving and chugging pepto. Good times!

My next trip was when I was 19. I had just separated from my first husband and moved back home with my tail tucked between my legs. My family hated him and was so happy! They already had a trip booked and bought me a plane ticket. It was amazing! Even though I was underage I looked older and did plenty of playing slots and drinking pina coladas. It was a total escape from how screwed up my life was at the time and I became hooked!

As I went more often it became more about gambling because it was more fun when the video slots started coming out.

When I was in my 20s I became borderline addicted to bingo. It was the only gambling available in TX. I was spending so much money it was impacting the quality of my life. I stopped going and changed my routines so I wouldn't go. Now I have casinos within an hour from me, but dont go often, instead opting for destination gambling! This makes me happier because I dont feel like a degenerate all the time, just when I go on vacation haha!

[hlaburg]

My parents never gambled... First time I went to Vegas was 1998 and I was like ok this is cool but didn't play at all. I met a friend at work in 2003 who loved the slots/video keno and he would tell me some of his winnings. I said hey I want to play! Started going with him to local casinos, had fun but never really "got" into it. Went to Vegas over the years with friends to get away from LA and again never played much.

In 2010 I stayed at Palazzo and gave them some play and a comp offer came in, the rest is history... .50 cent bets became $1 then $5, a host was assigned to me and now I go about 3-4 times a year. I love the comps and how well I get treated, no place like Vegas and I do all my gambling at the mecca!

[kolonialone]

I started out going with my sister and her husband to the NA casinos in Iowa when I visited her after I turned 18. I played the horses and a few slots but never really won anything and didn't really go much when the NA casinos started opening up in OK, but in 2005 I was supposed to go to New Orleans for Southern Decadence and Katrina happened and that trip was canceled so I went to visit my parents instead and one fateful night on that visit to an OK NA casino near my parents I sat down at a nickel machine my sister had been playing and not many spins into it I hit the progressive(tied to bingo - first 4 balls were the 4 corners) for $20k. I was ruint for slots after that and haven't stopped since then.