Push My Button

Over the weekend, I visited the new "Racino" that opened up near my house. It took a few years to build, but I never knew about it, until after it opened. I guess no one made a big deal about it. A "Racino" is a combination of Casino and Racetrack. I am not a gambler, so I just went to see what it was all about. The building was beautiful. All lit up with a grand entrance. When I walked in, the sound of the gaming machines filled the air. I walked around and saw hundreds of people on line, waiting for the buffet. Hundreds more were waiting to sign up for a casino membership card. This Racino, like the others in New York State, only has slot machines. Table games are not legal, unless they are run by the Indian Tribes. I decided to be bold and play $5 on the slot machine. In a matter of 5  minutes, I lost it all. Since I had another 55 minutes until I was to meet my family, I wandered around, observing. The room looked like it was filled with a bunch of mindless robots, sitting in front of a colorfully lit box, pressing a button, repeatedly. It was not like in the old days, when you put in coins and pulled a metal arm. They kept pushing buttons, until all of their money was gone. What was the sense of it? We all know that the casino wins. That's where they get the money to pay the electric company, for all of the lights. When it was time to leave, we waited for the elevator to take us back to the parking garage. When the doors opened and the people emerged, ready to go lose their money, my sister said, "stay in the elevator, it costs less".