CASINO

My sister and I sat on the back patio this afternoon while my parents were at a casino they like to frequent. We were looking up how to make mozzarella cheese. It seems pretty straight-forward which is exciting. 

The concept of “CASINO” is interesting and weird to me. What’s even more interesting is that most casinos, including the one my parents regularly attend, is owned by Native Americans. The casino can be thought of as a kind of play that people engage in, during which they are given a chance to “PLAY COWBOY” and have a try at stealing from the Indians. It’s as though the indigenous people of this continent have realized an innate desire that WASPS harbor and are exploiting it. Good for them!

In school I was instructed by what seemed like an endless conga line of embittered English professors to never use the phrase “THE AMERICAN DREAM” in an essay. This is because of its cliche. Please forgive me, you bitter, bitter men and women, but I will now use it in this essay: 

CASINO = AMERICAN DREAM

There’s this play I’ve never seen called “Assassins” by Stephen Sondheim. It’s a musical about all the different people who’ve succeeded in or at least tried to assassinate an American president. In the play, there is a song called “THE NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM” with a chorus that has the cast singing, “Where’s my prize?!” over and over again. 

I guess that’s what we want: we all want to get something for free. We all want something amazing and unexpected to happen to us when we least expect it. We want the cast of Oceans Eleven to pop out of a big cake and yell, “SURPRISE! HERE’S A BIG CHECK!” 

“Thanks George and Brad and Matt and Catherine Zeta Jones!”

“Sure thing, Billy! It’ll just be our little secret…”  

Gambling is, maybe, an activity that helps fulfill an inborn human desire to somehow trick God or the Universe into giving you something you don’t deserve. This is what ads all say. This is why coupons happen. This is why all you can eat food-buffets happen. Once Andy and I were driving along 676 and we saw a billboard for “ALL YOU CAN EAT TICKETS!”