My gambling money does better in Vegas without me!

As my mom and cousin enjoy their last day in Vegas, I've discovered the following to be truth: my gambling money does better in Vegas without me!

We started a tradition several years ago where we make sure to give whoever is lucky enough to go to Vegas some money to play on specific types of machines so that our money can enjoy Vegas without us. We then call the person who has the misfortune to NOT be in Vegas and let them listen in while their money is being played. If we're lucky, we get to experience all sorts of fun bonus rounds and generally enjoy the Vegas vibe together. Winning just becomes a secondary benefit to the "phone gambling".

I gave my mom $40 to play two $20 sessions of Gold Fish during this trip. Her first attempt on Saturday was no good, as she went through that money without a single bonus round for me to enjoy over the phone while she played for me. Still, it was nice to hear sounds of Gold Fish - and Vegas in general - in the background.

She called me on Sunday morning while she and my aunt ate breakfast, and I asked her to play $1 on Keno for me using my birthday numbers and that she could just take it out of my next session's money. Well, lo and behold, my birthday numbers came up during the very next game! There was much cursing to be heard on the other end of line from my mom about my luck - could've been some disparaging remarks about me, too, but I don't remember because I was laughing too hard - and my $1 birthday bet quickly became $42! I told her to keep the $2 for herself to pay for "pain and suffering", but I think the suffering was actually mine for not being there. So $40 went into the "take home" kitty for me. Excellent!

Since she already won for me on a random Keno bet and had spent $20 on Gold Fish at Flamingo, she decided to wait until today to gamble my second $20 at Caesars Palace, where I have managed to have some pretty good luck on the past few trips. As is tradition, she put my money in the machine and then dialed my phone number. Wouldn't you know it - she hit the Fish Food Bonus on the very first spin! Yay, me! I listened to her play through a couple of other bonuses, and she had my $20 up to $50.03 at one point, but I finally told her to just take it down to $40 and cash out. Doubling my money from $40 to $80 is fine by me - and it will come home to be part of my "seed money" for gambling in April.

I think I should send all my gambling money with my mom from now on. Well, maybe not...