You go to Vegas, you gamble. Now, you may not go to Vegas specifically to gamble, but you’ll find yourself doing that anyway. The first time I went, I spent a whole dollar at Caesar’s Palace, just to say I’d gambled at Caesar’s Palace (yes, I am that lame!). This year, I spent about $10 – not exactly what you’d call a high roller, but you never know. One year, I will come back with $1 million from the quarter I put into the slots!

Or at least I would if I learned how to gamble properly. I went to the Venetian, and put in my obligatory solitary dollar, and what do you know, I won $21. My gambling philosophy is, if you win more than you put in, cash out quick! So I promptly cashed out, and got my ticket.

In Vegas, the machines no longer pay out actual cash. Cash can be stolen, it’s heavy, and it can be used at other casinos. Tickets that represent how much money you’ve won, on the other hand, are much better. It’s less obvious how much money you’ve won with one, they can’t be transferred between competing casinos, and obviously they aren’t heavy. So all casinos use their own ticket system, with each slot machine paying you in a ticket rather than in 1,000s of quarters.

Now I should have remembered this when playing the slots at The Venetian. But no, I completely forgot, left it at my hotel (Circus Circus), only found it again when checking out, and so ended up with a ticket that could only be cashed at The Venetian (over a mile away)! What else could I do but leave it for the chamber-maid? I am an arse!