William Killian wrote: > >I trust casino operations more than other corporations. They are >regulated so that the government is protecting me from the otherwise >greedy corporations. > >I was going say more but it was going way too political. Or at least >seen that way. > > > hehe. You ARE aware, that when casinos gamble, they DO gamble, right? Caesar's Palace has several BAD years right after they originally opened, and as a result of gaming losses, changed hands several times. I have NDAs so I have to be careful, but I'd done some work in a gambling town, and became good friends with the owner (I'll shade the story slightly to cover the identity). He told me about the first month that he'd opened several small casinos some years ago. His machines were pretty typical, except that he set up a "Progressive Jackpot" that pooled the pot through several of his casinos. But of course, he owned all of them. Well, he'd just gotten financing together for all the slot machines and capital to fill them and pay employees etc. He was in hock "up to his eyes" with his beautiful house mortgaged as far as it would go. The actuaries said that nobody would hit the progressive jackpot for "at least a year" so he shouldn't worry about it. So with a lot of fanfare, the play began, He was doing well almost immediately. Things were still tight, but he was managing to cope. Suddenly, less than 30 days after opening, in the middle of the night, an elderly lady hit the progressive jackpot for $250,000! His casino manager called him saying "we can cover it, but tomorrow we can't operate". The boss told the casino manager to provide her with a free room, and ply her with anything she wanted, but to not pay the check until he got it covered. He then woke up bank officials all over the state trying to get a loan for $250K . By 5AM he had committments sent by fax, and he gave her a cashier's check that next morning when the banks opened up... It was the worst day of his life. If he had NOT paid, he would have lost his gaming license. The next progressive did not hit for almost 6 years after that. THAT is gambling. --Bob -- Note: To protect our network, attachments must be sent to attach@engineer.cotse.net . 1-520-850-1673 USA/Canada http://beam.to/azengineer -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist