Gamblin' Granny

#3)  Choctaw Nation

Choctaw: Durant, Oklahoma

  I'm not a big gambler -- maybe because I suck at it and/or don't have delusions that I'm going to walk out of the casino at the end of the night carrying sacks of cash.  I've been to WinStar and Vegas with friends when I was in college.  I usually played Blackjack -- with the exception of the time I branched out to play craps and in my first roll, accidentally threw the dice off the table.  That is NOT how you make friends while gambling.  Lesson learned.  I did a quick fade out and opted to just enjoy my free adult beverages the remainder of the night.  My grandmother, however, is a different story.  She is a gambling queen -- loves the races, roulette tables, slot machines -- and doesn't get to do it near as much as she would like.  For a while she has wanted me to take her to Choctaw -- so I thought as part of my 30/30 I would take my sweet Mamie to throw some money into the wind.  I loaded her up, along with my mom (after a lot of convincing) and my cousin.  Three generations headed to Durant, Oklahoma for some late night debauchery.

Three generations of fun/trouble on the loose....

  Talk about putting some pep back in someone's step -- you should have seen my grandmother transform into a "regular" at the casino as she cruised around trying to find her lucky game of the night.  After asking every single employee whether or not they had the old "pull arm" slot machines and responding with equal surprise each time they said they didn't have those any more -- we finally settled on electronic roulette.  She was like a kid in a candy store and looked so cute!  I made the mistake of taking a picture and within seconds a very large man morphed out of nowhere.  He did a little jacket pop then introduced himself as head of security.  He informed me photos weren't allowed, which I knew but "forgot".  On top of "forgetting", I was dumb enough to take it directly in front of the security booth.  Well done, genius.  I apologized, but he told me I needed to delete it.  I wish I was smart enough to know what you gain from a photo like that and I'd be rich -- but sadly, I don't have that con artist mentality....

Hop Scotch (aka best grandmother ever)

  I made a round by the Blackjack table, then refused to play the slot machines with my mom.  I stand by the statement that it is not only the most boring way to gamble, but also the most pointless way to lose money.  I made my way back to Mamie, who already had a drink in hand.  She was laughing and hitting almost every button on the touchscreen to place a bet (always including the number 33 which was my grandfather's football number -- awww!).    Each time she would win, but she would place so many bets initially it would almost be a wash.  She was oblivious to this fact, however, and every time got really excited like she'd won the lottery.  At one point, she was up by like 80 bucks.  Some people say "walk away while you're up" -- whereas my grandmother's motto is "my winnings are meant to prolong my playing time".

Mamie building a strong (hilarious) case for dancing...

 After a few hours, we were ready to go -- but Mamie was still going strong.  We finally had to cut her off and cash her out by force.  As we were walking out, we passed the stage where the band was playing.  When we didn't stop, she looked at me completely confused and said "Well aren't we at least gonna dance?"  She was ready to go full throttle with the jitter bug.  Little old Mamie outdid us all -- from winnings to energy -- and I'm convinced she is the coolest grandmother on the face of the planet (obviously I'm a tish biased).  Since we didn't stay later at the casino or dance, we compromised with a late night margarita at Taco Cabana.  When we got home, she informed me that she still had one request -- that I promise to take her gambling each week.  Negotiations are still pending....

Mamie = Winner........Emily = 50 cent token fail