A French friend visited a casino located on the Red Sea.
Even though he played a regular slot machine and not
video poker, I thought it was interesting enough to
share with the group:
We ask the taxi to leave us at the entrance of what seems to be "the Strip" (as I told you
they call the place 'the MidEastern Las Vegas' !) and we stop at the first casino we see. We
are 22km from our hotel!..
To start with, we are asked our passports (that they xerox), casinos being forbidden to the
Egyptians in particular and to Muslims in general.
The casino is very small and still more dimly lit than ordinary ones; perhaps because we
are the only patrons and they want to save electricity.. The place is really shabby and the
traditional miniskirt with the standardized legs that brings us a synthetic orange juice
seems already worn out (though it is only 9 PM).
As for us, we must give the impression we have just left our family farm in Arkansas or
Wisconsin for the first time in our lives and the guys there do not hide their scorn; first we
have difficulties to understand where to change Euros since only dollars are accepted, that
we must go to a lady at the entrance (of course we forgot to enquire about what was their
change rate). Then we have difficulties in inserting the bank notes into the slots to get
coins: a guy has to come and help us.
We start with one buck in a machine for 25cents. We immediately lose our first 4 games!
Ashamed, we go to the machines accepting 5 cents coins (only 2 machines out of 10 or
12). Françoise sits at one which proves not much cooperative and I take the second.
There, rather quickly, we fill up one big 'tumbler' and we wisely go to turn it into bills.
A few coins remain, so we return to use them in the same generous machine and we soon
fill up a second tumbler! We return to the cashier to get more green backs. In the
meanwhile they fill up our machine that we had dried up (a white lamp at the top was
blinking). Once again, there are some coins left. We return to our dear bandit. We play now
without conviction for about 10 minutes. At the last coin but one, the machine stops, does
not pour coins but indicates a gain of 980 coins! The casher hurries to us and gives us the
corresponding cash. To my mind, the machine suffered from some dysfunctioning in our
favor (and it is probable that just after our departure some technician must have had a
serious look inside it). Well, after having invested a total of 6 dollars, we won almost
$100! I know these sums and strategies must look totally derisive to you but this very
derisiveness may make the thing funny!
Then, we decide it is high time to leave and celebrate our "victory" in one of the
innumerable cafes and pubs. We are intercepted by a man who had immediately
understood we were French and offers limonade, orangina, etc. I tell him all we need is a
cool beer. "I do not have that" he says.. He is quite amazed when I convincingly retort that
my religion forbids me to drink any unalcoholic beverage. We walked a few more meters
and sit or rather lie on gorgeous cushions in that eastern cafe, neglecting the offered
narghile (we had already tasted it in Cairo on our preceding trip and also dreaded the
hygene of the thing) and savoring an Egyptian beer.
We were happy but we did not see Namaa Be actually : it is well-known for its gardens
along the sea side and we preferred that anonymous casino that might have been in any
part of the world, except in the USA: much too small! Life is a choice. Perhaps we will
return there at a less hot season. And visit the town... before going to a casino!