Saw two of the saddest, strangest and troubled people last weekend at the local...
The first was a lady who had been scoping a pair of machines behind me which had been doing fairly well, and thus were constantly seated. Once one of them opened up, she sat down and started playing max bet ($4/spin). Not long after, she hit the bonus (the only way I know is because the chimes were really loud and super annoying). She had nearly $900 on the machine, but only hit about $50 on the bonus...which she visibly was upset about. She hit a few more times, and every time I looked over, the balance was falling... $700... $400... $100.
You already know where I'm going, she went broke. Out come the $100's...counted about 3 or 4 rebuys. Not to mention, when the second machine next to her opened up, she started pumping $100's into that one too! She finally hit a good bonus where it paid like $999, and she was extremely excited, but she was definitely down. Prior to, I was like eye-screaming at her; I wanted to step in, but being the addict I am, knew she was tunnel-visioning and totally chasing the gambler's fallacy.
I still congratulated her, and learned that the machine was "a hot one"...so she would've chased regardless. Last I saw before cashing out of my machine, she was down to $500ish.
The second was a guy who was seated at a circular bank of machines I played. He was close enough to see, but the screen was out of sight. Well, he was doing (seemingly) worse...tons of curses and slamming the buttons. Again, I've probably been there too, so I definitely didn't want to intervene. It's when he finally taps out, or gives up, that he did the craziest thing I've seen:
Dude gets up, starts snorting and grunting...and then spits a giant ball of phlegm at the screen! I think he tried slamming the chair into the machine too, but it was fastened. Part of me felt his pain, but that (to me) just crossed the line.
I'll save a few the time: yes, slots are money pits. I was actually there for the OTB, and just happened to come across these characters while I phucked-off $40. Like I said, I've had my share of bad runs, and learned to either enjoy the game or don't even bother with them. I would think that if you're using a card, and the casino knows how long you've been there, and the coin-in is massively exceeding the coin-out...maybe they'd send someone by to look you over. Slot attendants (I thought) were trained for body language and signs of addiction/troubled gambling VS. just walking around waiting to fill papers for handpays. Shit's sick. Rant over.