Lights Out – Life Without a Casino

On Sunday, March 8^th, I walked downstairs from my Las Vegas Comso Suite and into the bustling casino floor. Strangers were sat beside one another, shook hands and kissed faces without a care in the world. I ordered a Mimo to start the day properly. I spent the first hour walking about the LV Strip and then the casino. Then, I went to my high limit Super Times Pay machine and lost six months’ worth of rent. I had four Mimos, two Bloody Marys, a Johnny Walker Black and a Miller Light. What an amazing day.
By the time I left Cosmo, I started to see a lot of strange behavior. I stopped off at a gas station for my traditional broke-binge eating ritual and grabbed a few beers for the long painful ride to LA.
People were wearing masks. Although, I had seen many masks leading up to this day, the lion’s share was of Asian descent with the personal protective equipment on. Such an odd turn of events to see peeps from Cali and other states in this get up. I thought nothing more of it though, and continued my cathartic road trip towards LA.
By the time I pulled into El Monte, California, you could sense things were heating up. Most of the people in the hotel were avoiding each other. And, on check-in, the staff informed me the room had been thoroughly sterilized.
It was a strange notification, but the worst was yet to come. Within days, MGM would announce the closure of its LV buffets and, immediately behind it, the shutdown of all casinos until May 1st. Then, the president of the United States told us we were trapped, and almost all of the US casinos had to shut down. Disaster had hit home. The realization had sunk in – I wouldn’t see a casino machine for a long, long time. I poured myself four fingers of bourbon and cried myself to sleep.
I have dealt with many challenges in my life: NYC on 9/11, family loss, and I’ve had some close calls as well, but not being able to see the Hard Rock AC center bar and play high limit is FOR  REAL.
So, what now? Online casinos? Sure. I’ll play them and we’ll have some hits here and there. Online meetups with my family and friends? Okay. We can do that too. The Regular Fun crew cancelled our NCAA pool and created an elimination pool on worldinfo coronavirus numbers. I’ll get by. I’ve done this before. I’ve been destitute broke, eating tuna cans and ramen noodles, no big deal. Let’s just get this shit over with and get back to normal. In the end, none of the online sites and activities beats the atmosphere and excitement of walking into a casino. Please come back to us soon.