“I don’t want to say the horse I bet on was slow, but the jockey kept a diary of the trip.”
-Rodney Dangerfield

I’m about to make a confession here. I love to gamble. There, I said it. I’ve never lost the rent money or had to borrow dollars to keep playing, but there’s something about watching a game, playing poker or picking a long-shot that just seems exciting.

Going back to when I was a kid and Grandpa Elliott would take me on Friday afternoons in his old Mercury to see the ponies – I still remember his faded green work shirt, glasses slid down his nose, as he dissected the program. “Who do you like in the fourth race, Jerry?” Throwing peanut shells on the floor, cigar smoke, the announcer calling the horses to the gate...

It was exciting then, and it’s exciting now. It’s referred to as “gaming” these days, as opposed to gambling because the push for slots is on here in Ohio. The voters continue to reject each issue as they come up and I think I’m OK with that. Majority rules and if I want to play casino type games, try my luck at the tables, or video poker, there’s certainly plenty of opportunities, all within a few hours drive; Riverboats to the south, and Windsor/Detroit to the north.

I remember one time being in an Indian casino in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan playing dollar black-jack, surrounded by flannelled lumber jacks and minor league hockey players. Not exactly James Bond in Monte Carlo is it? That’s why I love Vegas the best – the glitz, the shows, the cheap shrimp cocktail.

My wife had never been and the first time she hit on the slots, she giggled like a schoolgirl. Anymore though, it’s harder and harder to find the old Vegas. I stayed at one of the hot new properties when I covered the Arena Bowl with our sports guy, Arch Maddness, last June and, although we had fun, I was a bit disappointed. The casinos are so big, so open and so computerized that they’ve lost some of the charm. It felt more like a cruise ship.

Video slots are OK, but there’s nothing like hearing coins slamming into that metal tray after 3 cherries come up.

Well, it’s getting’ late, my chips are low and I’ve got church in the morning. Do you think they have bingo?

Jerry Elliott hosts the WLVQ-FM-96 Morning Show.