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!