The casino had yet again made a fatal mistake in offering me free rooms and back-to-back days of free play. I was hoping to be more out on trails, but, with the recent hurricanes and many areas having flooding with trails needing clearing. It was time for a casino run.

I ended up getting a two-night free stay at a partaking business hotel in the area. While I have taken up the casino on this deal in the past. That trip was a flat-out out just break-even without anything that interesting going on. This trip however would be quite a down and then like a rocket ship up in adventure and winnings.

I’ve never been a big hotel kind of person. As long as the place has clean beds and is quiet enough during the night to get some sleep. That is about all I'm looking for. There was a small pool at the place they put me up at. It was however starting to become not swimming weather so that was not something I cared much about this trip.

I ended up finding out that this place would have charged me $109 plus 13% in taxes, and another $20 or so night in fees. Needless to say, I would not have been happy paying nearly $300 to spend two nights at this hotel. Thankfully it was all comped after getting the mistake fixed.

I don’t know if it's because it’s the slow season down here or due to the hurricanes. They were doing some massive remodeling. Which was something they did not mention on their website. Oddly enough my other options for places I could have picked to stay free at least mended that.

I kind of knew this trip was going to have some twists and turns. As soon as I got to the hotel there was a sign on the front door saying it was closed. Had to go all the way to the back of the building past a lot of construction stuff to use the back door for check-in.

Thankfully they had a side door you could use once you got a room key. They also locked things down quite a bit at night at this location. The ice machines require a room key to access. Along with the back door getting locked after 6 PM. It did not take long to discover why such things were the way they were in this area.

At least the casino was around four or so miles away. There ended up being six trips over two nights and three days I spent some time down there. If the slots were not hitting, I'd spend a couple of hours in the casino before heading back to the hotel room for a bit.

It is always kind of nice when I have a room to stay in. It seems more times than not when I do have a room to be at, I'll end up spending just a couple more hours over three days than I would over a single day in the casino. This usually ends up working out a quote well for me.

At the very least the hotel room had a microwave and brought along some food to heat up while I was down there. A nice little way to save some money since there are not many options outside of the casino unless I wanted to go into the bigger city the casino is nearby. Which I prefer to avoid like the plague.

During the entire trip, I'd sit down and play Fu Da Le five or six times. The red envelope at one point ended up getting over $130. On top of that, the minor would hit over $100 as well. I however never trigged either of those two things.

Instead, I did get the free spin bonus a couple of times. Most of the bonuses however were not that great. I ended up having this good fortune has arrived line hit for $40 that beat most of them. Since I tend to only put $40 into a machine at a time. I walked away slightly up on that session. Which is usually how most of my gambling went on Fu Dao Le this trip.

That could not be said for most of the rest of the trip. Before the first night ended, I must have been down 30% of the total bankroll I had brought along. With so many bonuses only paying out less than $10 I was starting to think the casino was going to win this round.

This entire trip could have just boiled down to getting a single line hit either in a bonus or outside of a bonus that kept me going at all. While I did get to play the “newer” bag games. They were not doing anything great for me either.

Sometimes I'd just have fun walking around the casino looking for something new or really old that I've not seen or played before. While it was not a lot, I'd rack up three to four miles each day just on my walks around the casino gawking at the different slots.

I’d find myself playing some quite old games like Airplane or Black Orchid. While none of these did anything amazing. I found myself sometimes getting over half an hour of gameplay and walking away breaking even or a couple of bucks up.

That was however more of the expectation than the rule this trip. Before the second night hit midnight, I was down around 85% of my bankroll. I ended up just saving a little for one last run at midnight. After that, I'd back my bags and get a couple of hours of sleep before checkout.

More times than not I'm just a low roller. If I can keep my bets somewhere between 50 cents to $1 that is the range I try and stay in. It was however now a critical moment. Sometimes you have to take your shot and make your luck.

I ended up rolling back into the casino after midnight. The first slot I ended up sitting down at was a Dragon Link. I put $100 in and started doing some $5 bets. I even got a couple of good enough line hits to keep me going and even above my starting balance before hitting a bonus.

The free spins bonus was almost as expected. I expect on a Dragon Link the free spins bonus to not be great. It was a total disaster. Expect a single spin. I landed a five-symbol retrigger that gave me $500. Along with a couple of extra spins that were sadly dead spins.

After the bonus was over, I decided I'd cash out at $600. I was on this machine for so short of time the drink lady had not even been by yet to offer me a nice bottle of water. This is a bit of a shame as they offer in the higher slot area higher-end water than they give out elsewhere.

This would end up being the start of quite a comeback of a run. I started getting bonuses left and right. While none of them were as crazy as the bonus I got on Dragon Link. Before the night was over, I'd no longer be almost out of money. I’d end up being slightly ahead after all the other expenses of the trip.

After quite the crazy run it was time to head back to the hotel room. I had no idea the crazy adventure was not over just yet. Once in the parking lot, I noticed there were a few cops and employees around. Which made me wonder if someone had yet again been robbed.

Making the short four-mile trip back to the hotel I noticed a lot of people lurking around on bikes and hiding in bushes at 4:30 AM or so. Then I noticed there were half a dozen cop cars parked around a house that had another dozen cars in its yard and driveway.

I can only assume some kind of large drug house bust was going down. It was kind of shocking to see a good thirty or so people lurking around. I don’t know if they all ran out of the house or if they were trying to discover who was getting hauled away. I got a feeling a few of them had some kind of “involvement” with the house in question and I'll leave it there.

During this trip, I also ended up going to a higher-end restaurant with a bill of almost $100 for two people. They at least had some crazy milkshakes at this restaurant. Mine had a cupcake on top of it, an Oreo cookie and cream candy bar. Along with chocolate springles attached to the outside of the glass with frosting and some other stuff as well.

I’ve been wanting to go to this particular restaurant for quite a few years. However, with milkshakes being $20 each and hamburgers running up into the $30s. It was hard to justify the price.

If I ever go again, I think I'll just have a milkshake. I can get food that I prefer more elsewhere for a couple of bucks less. It was however a fun experience to have. It was least nice to have gone once and get it off my list of things I'd like to do.

Final Thoughts

Nothing like losing most of your bankroll for two days straight for the most part. Just to pull off some massive wins in the end walking away ahead. Even after the cost of meals. Next time, however, I'd stay at a different hotel if given the choice.

I hope the “nightlife” is not so active on the streets around the casino. It feels like that area is going a bit downhill from what it used to be. This is a bit of a shame as gambling options out here are quite limited.

Information

Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.