Chapter 11

Back home

Jason resisted the temptation to play more roulette as he felt mentally exhausted, mainly from the nervous tension that resulted from betting such large amounts. After a bit of a break and discovering that while he was mentally fatigued, he wasn’t really sleepy, he settled for going to a bar with a floor show before crashing into his hotel room bed. The next day, Jason reluctantly returned to San Diego while wishing he had booked to stay longer. He made an appointment to see someone at the large generic tax firm he got his tax accounts done by. He discovered that winning lots of money at a casino was nothing special; he quickly learned that poker players did it all the time. The amount he had won was merely added to his annual taxable income as he wasn’t a professional gambler. Given the downsides of being classed as a professional gambler, he decided he was happy to be classed as just a chance winner as far as the IRS was concerned. He would pay more tax as he couldn’t claim deductions, but he would have to fill out a lot less paperwork!

Once the check cleared, he decided he had better allow for the IRS and, after some consideration, settled on fifteen thousand for that task which he transferred into his high-interest savings account for well, higher interest. No bank offered a genuine high-interest return on people’s savings, but his account was not a too bad one, comparatively, provided he kept a minimum balance of a thousand in it. That was all he’d had left when he emptied it of the rest of his meager savings to use as a bankroll in Vegas. He’d re-deposit the cash he’d taken in the next couple of days from the twenty-something thousand in cash he had brought home. He bought some new clothes. And a new computer. A state-of-the-art, oh wow, type of computer. Yes! And he was still feeling no remorse for taking the casino’s money.

He also spent time considering his changed circumstances. The way he had been struggling along with a part-time job and largely living off his parents could come to an end if he wished. Hell, he could rent a decent apartment and pay a year in advance with the money he had in just the cash, let alone the rest. He shook his head. All right, just calm down! He thought to himself. Let’s not rush things!

It was true that there were advantages to living at home, but having his own place would surely be a good thing. But how could he explain his sudden wealth to his folks? Or to his friends, for that matter. Yes, he could say he got lucky in Vegas this time, but it would get a bit suspicious if he got lucky every time!

Hmmm. Okay, so he could palm some off by saying he got lucky at roulette or craps or whatever, and besides, he had already claimed to have won some at poker. Yes, that would do if he kept the obvious winnings moderate and came up with ways of hiding the rest from his family. He wasn’t keen on being sneaky about it or hiding things from his family, but he would have to do it that way until he came up with something better. And he couldn’t keep winning heaps at Vegas. The casinos there would smell a rat. So that meant the occasional trip to Atlantic City and some of the bigger casinos around the country, maybe even a couple of international places… ooh, Monte Carlo! Yes!

He swapped the chips around, so the stack of blacks formed part of the bet, and thirty red meant they were swept back into the float. it still left them with only three thousand in five-hundreds. He bet three thousand on red and hit thirty-two red with some help. Repeated the add two, keep one thousand drill, and decided to go easy on them and let the ball hit wherever. Twenty-two black, and he was only ten thousand up. He bet three on black. Twenty-six black. He took the usual one thousand and stacked the bet up to five thousand. At this point, security arrived with a chip delivery containing two stacks of orange chips.

After the paperwork was done, the dealer offered to change his chips. He had eight thousand dollars worth in his pocket and five thousand on the table. The five-hundreds were all changed for the orange one-thousands. The next spin came down four black, and he took his five thousand payout, giving him thirteen thousand in hand and five on the table. All right. Let it roll. The ball bounced and bobbled around the wheel, almost landed in five, and then bounced back into seventeen black. Ha. Eighteen thousand up. The next spin was nine red, and he had lost. He tried to make it seem like he had decided to stop mucking around and plonked five thousand down on red straight off.

Thirty-two red got his five thousand back. Twelve red took him to twenty-three thousand up. He let the ball bounce freely, and black four meant he lost the bet. Five thousand on black and had to nudge the ball into Thirteen black. Then thirty-one black, and the next spin, a free one, hit eight black, and he was thirty-three thousand up. The spin after that was nine red, and he decided to go one sequence more. He bet five thousand on red using the same apparent system he’d been using the whole time. He had to nudge the ball into seven red, and it was sort of late and looked a little dodgy to Jason, but the bets were paid. The next spin was twenty-one red without any help, and he was thirty-eight thousand up, and they had to pay him with their two remaining orange chips and three thousand in five-hundreds. He left the small chips and two of the thousands out there. The next spin was also red, sixteen, and they only had five-hundreds left for the payout. Finally, a black came up, and he lost.

Right. So, let’s see what happens now, he thought to himself. He nodded to the dealer and threw him a five-hundred chip over as a tip before heading for the cashier. He was forty-two thousand and five hundred dollars up after the dealer tip. He had to give them his details, including tax information, and they paid him with a check for forty thousand and cash for the balance of the chips, three-thousand and five-hundred dollars. No one tried to stop him as he left, and having had such a good run at the tables, he took no chances at being mugged and got a taxi back to his hotel.

They did the cash change. The supervisor okayed it and made a note on his clipboard. He put the two chips on black and used the kinetic spell to nudge the ball from three into twenty-four black. He doubled the bet and watched as the ball plopped straight into fifteen black the next spin. He then took one thousand off the table, his original bet, and left three thousand. The next spin tried to land in thirty red, but he used the spell to nudge it over into eleven black. He added one thousand of the winnings to the bet and took two thousand off. This time he made no attempt to prevent the ball from landing in one red, and the dealer took his chips away. He was still two thousand up.

He took the two thousand he was up and put them on red. The ball came up nineteen without any help from him, and he repeated his earlier ploy of adding one thousand of the pay-out chips to the stack and taking one thousand away. The next spin had the ball bobbling around, and it looked like landing in ten, so he used the kinetic spell to push it into five red. He repeated his betting method of adding one thousand of the winnings to the bet and pocketing the remaining two thousand. He was now up three thousand. He let the bet ride unsupported, and the ball landed in one red anyway. All right. Follow the system.  He added one thousand to the bet to make it the table maximum of five thousand. Indeed, the dealer checked the amount under the direction of the supervisor. The next number up was black, and the five thousand was swept away. But he was now ahead six thousand with the extra win.

He pulled some chips out of his pocket and put three thousand on black. Eleven came up again without needing any help from him, and he added two thousand to the bet and pocketed one thousand. The next spin, he had to help the ball into twenty-eight black and so collected five thousand. Nine thousand up. He left the bet out there and refrained from helping the ball land in a black number again, and double zero came up. Losers all. Good. Mind you, the supervisor and the suit were still watching him, although not as intently as the fellow the previous day.

He made a show of hesitating with his next bet, then not betting at all on the next spin. The result was black, so he bet that for three thousand. Nudged the next ball into seventeen black, took one of the winning three thousand, and added the remaining two thousand to the now maximum bet, which the dealer checked. Eight black without any need for interference, and he took his five thousand payout. Twelve thousand up. He left the next spin alone and still hit twenty black. Seventeen thousand up, and they had run out of five-hundreds and had to pay him partially in hundreds.

late sorry –

Finding a table, he put three thousand on red, hit five red straight off without him having to help, and noticed the man in the dark, expensive-looking suit who was watching him from the other side of the podium in the middle of the pit. The close-in supervisor woman whose table he was playing on was watching closely as well. Right! I’ve been noticed! Let’s start playing games. He left five thousand on red and pocketed one thousand. A flick and twenty-three red. Five thousand. He left his bet on red, but with this spin, he made sure the number was black, so his bet lost. He pulled chips back out of his pocket and put three thousand on black. Twenty-nine black. Did the same as the previous time and put one thousand in his pocket and left five thousand on black.

The ball bobbled and bounced and settled into eleven black without needing help, and he pocketed the five-thousand. On the next spin, he needed to help the ball into fifteen black, and he pocketed another five thousand. He was up seven in total at this table, so he let the ball go where it wanted on the next spin. It bounced into two, then zero, then rolled over into twenty-eight black, and he had won again. He left the five thousand on black again, and this time it came up seven red, and the dealer swept his chips away. Of course, he was now up twelve thousand. He sauntered over to the bar, had a drink to soothe his nerves, then cashed four thousand out at the cashier. Then he went and had dinner before he returned to the cashier for another four thousand cash out.

He wandered around the whole establishment for a bit. Found a spot where he could sit and ogle some pretty girls having drinks before going out on the town. He was mentally too exhausted to do any more, and his head was now pounding, so he waited another hour before he noticed the shift changing in the cashier’s booth. In the process, his headache decreased somewhat. He delayed another thirty minutes before cashing out his remaining four thousand in chips, and then he headed out to the front, where he grabbed a cab back to his hotel. Once he was back in his room, he counted out the money he had made and found it came to twenty-eight thousand dollars for just that one day! Holy shit!

The problem now was, what did he do with the money? If he banked it, the IRS would be all over him, although he supposed that for this time around, if he banked a bit here and there over time, they probably wouldn’t notice. Maybe. And pay for everything in cash. Hmm. The trouble was that if he openly won big amounts like this in the casinos and cashed them out legally, it was not really the fact he would have to pay tax that was the problem. Rather, he suspected the real problem would be the casinos realizing how much he was winning and banning him from entry. Although if he did that win, win, lose type thing regularly, it may take them a while to twig. Hmm. Okay, he thought to himself, tomorrow I’ll try that at another casino.

The Bellagio looked nice, what with that fountain display out the front which he sat and watched for a while. They had three five-thousand max tables to choose from, which was even better. He plonked down a thousand.

“How do you want it?” Asked the dealer.

“You got any thousand chips?”

The dealer boggled and then glanced over at his cash chips. “No. Only five hundreds.”

“Two of them then, please.”

Because of the way the tax laws worked in the US, he didn’t want to bring himself to the attention of the IRS, so he wandered over to the cashier and changed four thousand worth of the chips. He then made his way slowly to another table and bet two thousand again, this time on red, and after collecting his winnings, went to a third table and bet two thousand on red again. He nearly had the zero come up, but the ball flipped out, and then he nudged it into fourteen and collected another two thousand. He cashed out the four thousand he had won before heading to the bar, where he sat and relaxed. The tension he had been feeling gradually eased over a cold Coke! He had a personal rule of not drinking alcohol on the job!

Deciding he had done enough damage to this establishment, he cashed his remaining four thousand in chips and headed out the door. Out in the street, he hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to Caesar’s Palace. Inside, this famous establishment was much more upmarket, bigger, brassier, and busier. He wandered around the casino floor and found a table with a five-thousand upper limit and what looked to be five-hundred-dollar chips in the float, as they called the area where all the chips were, and this time started by cashing in just five hundred dollars. The dealer looked a bit surprised when Jason asked for a single five-hundred chip but complied, and the jacket-wearing person okayed the transaction, after which Jason placed the chip on red.

The dealer started to say. “Chips…”

But the suit cut them off with a. “Yeah.”

The ball lobbed into twenty-four black, and Jason flicked the kinetic spell to make the ball jump forward into thirty-six red. The dealer hadn’t noticed the jump as he was watching the layout, and the jacket person was attending to something on the next table over. He doubled up the two chips and waited for the next spin.

The obligatory.

“Chips played.”

That got the supervisor back for the end of the spin, but fortunately, the ball lobbed straight into thirty-red, and Jason was paid again. He removed one of the now four chips and put it in his pocket before stacking the other three up.

The next spin saw the ball bobble into thirty-one, then ‘bounced’ into eighteen red, and Jason was paid again. He stacked the chips up, then made as if he was going take his winnings and run, then shook his head and plopped them back down on red for the fourth time. The number of bets on black grew a little. He thought the ball was going to land on the zero, but it bobbled out, danced with landing in twenty-eight, and then finished in nine red, all without him doing anything!

He now had six thousand in winnings. He took two chips and put them on black while he pocketed the rest. The next spin had the ball look like it was going to stop in thirty red, so Jason flicked the spell, and it tipped over into eleven black. The supervisor was watching closely now, so he collected his ill-gotten gains and sauntered off. He went to one of the bars and had a drink while relaxing from the tension that had stiffened up his neck and shoulders. He was also developing a headache and thought about packing it in for the evening but decided to play on and win a bit more. He wandered over to the cashier’s booth and cashed four and half thousand, his original five hundred and four thousand in winnings. After settling himself mentally, he headed back to the roulette tables and looked for another one with the five-thousand upper limit.