M.Trojan - The Wolf of Gambling

Gamblers from all over the world try to fulfil the ardent desire of going to Las Vegas just once in their life. This city did not become famous because of its many Magician-shows etc. or because a few really well-known Mafia movies which by the way are based on true stories. No – Las Vegas became famous because there you’ll find the true gamblers’ Paradise. The city was built with blood money and to this day, it survives only through gambling addictions. Fraud was never tolerated and even to this day, it isn’t. It is prohibited. But that isn’t all. If someone was to crack the system, then he would be prohibited from entering Vegas the very next day. Why is that? That is because the bank always wins and the gamblers never even have a chance and never had one in the past either. It doesn’t matter where you gamble. Be it in a pub, in a gambling hall, at the petrol station, in a casino or directly in the gamblers’ paradise called Las Vegas. To gamble away money is to gamble away money. You don’t invest in a dream, you gamble away your life and all this came about systematically by means of increasing stakes and constant gambling. If you reverse this determination and use it for the withdrawal, then we have reached the right point. The city of Las Vegas is beautiful, but not one cent of it was given for free. On the contrary, the gamblers paid for every brick. Every show, everything is paid for by the guest. That is normal and generally well-known. However, as soon as you visit Las Vegas in order to gamble away your life at a slot-machine, you ought to question your destination. The Theory of Probability for winning or if you like, counting the cards which is particularly well-known in America, impedes the clear view. You cannot win, no matter which way you look at it. The addiction wins because it isolates our mind and devours our money. Don’t be deceived by objective wealth. Let the lights flash and allow the slot-machine drums to continue rotating regardless of whether you are witnessing a winning. Every gambler gambles until the time when the money lands in the slot-machine again. Often I only watched and again and again you see how somebody wins some money. As a gambler, you then think: That could have been me. Strangely enough, we only think that in the case of a winning. When we see a homeless person, we never think that could have been me. Although as a gambler, you are truly working your way towards that situation. Even when we still want to say I don’t gamble all the time, the final destination will be systematic bankruptcy because an addiction has no limit.

The Las Vegas “Rescue Mission” helps people who have nothing left or have lost everything already. An aid project for the homeless in the in the glittering world of Las Vegas – this side of the coin does not appear much in the media. Of course, in a city which promises pure wealth to the middle class, all reality is to be concealed. And the irony of the day? The possibly best-known magicians who are also called illusionists among other things were on stage for many years with their white tigers in Las Vegas. Their shows made history with a whiff of illusion. Although a magician’s show will surely not make you lose money, the situation is completely different in a Casino or a hotel with a gambling center. This also operates with pure illusion. The city of Las Vegas has 550,000 inhabitants with a rising tendency. Strangely, the city has over 100,000 homeless people which works out to be nearly a fifth or approximately 20 per cent of all inhabitants. That means that every fifth inhabitant in Vegas is already homeless. This ought to make clear how this glittering world is being financed. Only very few homeless people were born into such circumstances.

In Vegas, it is all about money; winning money, getting by, making enough money to live, risking money and so on. The city spends millions of dollars every year in order to present this image of the American dream. But when you look a bit closer, you will find no sparkle. The city looks duller than before if you look really close. The only thing which really represents an American flair is the architecture of the casinos and the hotels and also in part the way everything is presented. Such buildings could for example not be implemented in Germany. In my opinion, it is very American. You could even claim: This is only possible in America. However, there is nothing American about gambling - on the contrary. Americans are family people, caring and fun-loving people. However gambling destroys precisely that which makes Americans so unique and well-liked.

Vegas with 5,000 dollars – quickly into the casino and come out a self-made millionaire an hour later. That would be nice. But that is not the way it works – quite the contrary. The gambler will at best pay for the next new slot-machine for the casino with his 5,000 dollars. In the long run, no gambler will win even just one single dollar. If this were the case – if every gambler was a few dollars in the black (at the slot-machines), then Las Vegas would automatically shrink. However, so far this is not happening. On the contrary, Vegas is becoming larger every month – it is growing and thriving with the help of every single gambler who has stopped using his brain and spends money or throws it into a machine. Las Vegas did not grow due to tradition or American culture, but it became big due to gambling addictions. Addiction is the word which you must definitely and urgently save in your vocabulary.

Take a closer look at Vegas. Look at it as a tourist would and not as a gambler. It is full of prostitutes who either con the tourists or the gamblers for as long as they still have money. And then there is also the rapidly increasing drug-scene. Vegas had to set up a special unit for drug control. The police is more geared against illegal prostitution and drug trafficking than for example against terrorism. Vegas does not know any nuances, no grays, and no colors - there is only black and white. In gambling there are only winners or losers. But the true winners don’t play at all and it is for this reason only that they may be considered to be winners. They actually have money as opposed to the gamblers. 30 million visitors gamble away their money in Vegas every year. That amounts to a turnover of 6 billion dollars for Vegas. That says it all really. Of course, everyone would like to take a look at this unique city which became so big through gambling. However, all that glitters is not gold. Not only had the Mafia buried their dead in the Nevada desert – gambling is responsible for the death of innumerable people. The reality is not good enough for Hollywood and for this reason, we watch movies about and set in Las Vegas. However, they are never about the gamblers who are destroyed by Vegas. We see only winners, never the losers. We see fiction rather than facts.

Place any person you like in a Casino in Vegas with 5,000 dollars. He will gamble. This is due to the atmosphere which will slowly weaken anyone’s resistance. The mind is lost in Vegas because everyone gambles and nobody advises you against it. We do not see the millionaires who gambled everything away. We only see those who bought a villa in Vegas, but not the persons who had previously owned it or gambled it away.

Even at the petrol stations in Vegas there are one-armed bandits; it really seems as if everyone in Vegas wants to ensure that they get their part of the takings. One way or another, the dollar rules the city, not love of one’s neighbour and neither the magician or dance shows. It is the dollar.

When you watch documentaries about Vegas, do not consider them to be inspirational, but rather – be inquisitive. What are they trying to tell us? What is the purpose of the documentary? Especially in America, there is a serious downplaying of the addiction to gambling and moreover, they try to actively acquire new gamblers. Come to Vegas and try your luck – believe me, it won’t go further than a try. The advertisements for the shows, the Freefall-Tower advertisements etc. are only for the purpose of enticing you to go there. The visitor will try his luck at the roulette table, the slot-machines or at other games because he has no other choice. I would like to prove the point that the casinos are counting on you to come in and gamble as well as lose. To be quite honest, if I had a casino and I knew that I would lose, would I really be so nice and ask you to come by to gamble and win? I don’t think that I would take the risk and I‘m sure you wouldn’t either. No – that is not the way it works. A casino will even send a limousine to the airport to pick you up or take you to the casino. They will only offer this service if it is worth their while. Only those who gamble will be ensnared with nice gestures. Indirectly of course, the gambler pays for the staff, however he doesn’t realize it so far. The gambler does not depend on Vegas, but rather it is the other way round – the city needs every single gambler. It is only due to gambling that the city can glow day and night and keep up the pretence of being free from worries. Only the addiction to gambling keeps this construct of lies thriving. Everything has been set up against the gambler; he is to gamble; he must gamble; he will gamble. The construction of a casino is like a labyrinth. The gambler is to stay inside and it is difficult to find a direct, fast and a hasty way out. For a tourist who is in Vegas for the first time, it is impossible to leave the casino quickly. As I said above – everything has been set up against the gambler. Come along and enjoy life – they ensnare everyone and then people start dreaming. There is a rule in Vegas: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas and that is exactly the way it is. Every euro, every dollar, and every coin – it all stays in Vegas and it does not just happen once a month that a wealthy millionaire gambles away everything because he was infected by Vegas. The addiction is without mercy and if you allow the illusion to thrive and if you are of the opinion that gambling might make you a lucky person, then you have not understood so far what Vegas is all about. The slot-machines at every corner do not serve the purpose of being able to win money at every corner, but rather to make sure your money gets into circulation. Vegas does not stand for fast money, but rather a short life.