Reno: It wasn't our night

Just got back from Reno with my Mom, Uncle Gil, Auntie Evelyn, and Raffy (). I'm currently at my Uncle Gil & Auntie Evelyn's place here in Sacramento, which is a 2-hour drive from Reno.

We left our place at around 8:30 AM and arrived here at Sacramento 2 hours later. Half an hour after, we were rolling for "The Biggest Little City In The World".

A beautiful view of the mountains, pine trees, and snow-covered land filled our sight once we hit freeway {80} headed East. It was just breathtaking to see those mountains with pine trees and snow. It was like seeing the Swiss Alps. We took a breather at this rest stop up in the mountains and Raffy and I took pictures and played in the snow. It was just beautiful. Words cannot describe how beautiful the sight was.

We arrived in Reno at around 1:30 PM and we went to lunch right away at the Atlantis Casino. All in all, we went to 5 casinos in the area, the other 4 being El Dorado, Silver Legacy, Circus-Circus, and Fitzgerald's. I had some goofy pictures taken inside the casino by the slot machines and with some pretty ladies who served drinks (haha).

To make the long story short, I lost $120+ in the damn casinos. Basically, I lost everything I had. I brought along only that much money because I wanted to limit myself. I was tempted to actually bring $200 but that's a total waste if I lost it all. Good thing I was wise enough to limit it to only $100 (plus the $20 on hand).

This trip really enlightened me about how casinos operate and stuff. Basically, they prey on foolish people who keep hoping that someday they'd hit it big. But reality is, I'd probably say that those who actually win in casinos only comprise 5-10% of casino-goers. The rest of the 90-95% LOSE their money, which becomes gain and profit for casinos. No wonder the drinks are free and no wonder the gambling industry is such a big business. If you're foolish enough (somewhat like me) to lose everything, this industry thanks you for giving them business. Hehe.

Anyway, the casinos profited from us as the five of us didn't win. Uncle Gil was just "break even" but all of us flat-out lost money, with me losing the most. But it's no big deal. I was expecting to lose the money, anyway. My tax refund will just take care of that. Besides, it was a fun way of losing it, haha.

And so it was a great night loaded with fun, food, and pictures. A wonderful way to celebrate my first year in America.