I think gambling is hardwired into the Chinese brain! We all dream of getting rich and while people wish for peace and joy at Christmas, we wish for prosperity at Chinese New Year! :) Go to any casino in the world and I bet you'll see mostly Chinese folk; men and women alike! Funny isn't it? Notice how there are virtually no 'ang moh' tourists at all in Genting Highlands???
So anyway, this is what I found out. The casinos at Genting Highlands are divided like this;
First there is the common area where anyone above 21 yrs of age and not Muslim is allowed in. Here you can get free water and cordial I think, and you can place small bets like RM10 or something...
Then, you have the area for silver card holders. Coffee and tea are free and bets get larger.
Next is the VIP lounge for gold card holders. Here you can have food and non-alcoholic drinks for free, and of course bets get correspondingly larger...
Then you have the Elite Club for platinum card holders. There is first class food available 24 hrs here and also free booze! Hubby brought me here and we had wine and cheese and of course I had to have the Haagen Dazs ice-cream even though I was freezing!! :) How can you pass on Haagen Dazs ice-cream? Moreover this was free Haagen Dazs ice-cream! It was all for free even though we didn't gamble!
The minimum, I repeat, minimum, bet at a table here is RM2000!! I think you could feed a poor family for a few months with that amount!! And that's just one bet which takes only about a minute or two!! The people here reeked of money and I felt so out of place in my Bata sandals and green hoodie jacket (I forgot to pack formal wear)!! :)
That is not all! There is yet another more elite club called the Maxim club. I think there are only over a hundred members in this club and I dare not imagine the amount of money that rolls there!
Anyways, I think that all casinos are dangerous places where money seems to have no value!
Look at that, RM10,000 reduced to a small piece of plastic! While at the casino, we met one of Hubby's acquaintances who was casually flipping a rectangular piece, and I strained to see what was printed on it, and to my shock it read, "250,000"!! That's a quarter of a million!! *crazy* I think you could build a small school in Africa with that piece of plastic!!
Here we are slogging away 9-5 for chicken feed compared to what these guys are casually gambling away! It's a little mind boggling and depressing, dontcha think?
I have since come to the conclusion that casinos are definitely *evil*!! But they do serve nice ice-cream, I must say... :)
So does money make the world go round??
Well, one thing for sure is it does get you nicer washrooms!!
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