Tales From My Past - Vegas, Baby

Back when I worked for the government I spent three weeks at Nellis Air Force Base. Which is in Las Vegas. I'd been to Vegas several times before, and my enthusiasm for the place is what led the powers-that-be to send me there again. But, if you were wondering, three weeks in Vegas is exactly three weeks too long.
   After two weeks of just me and Earnest, the trainers showed up. One of them was Doris, who was hilarious and just the right combination of naive and very worldly to make for a good dinner companion. So I took her to the MGM Grand buffet. This was back when buffets in Vegas were excellent - most of them - and the one at the MGM was astounding. We stuffed our faces and I learned that Doris was from Branson, MO, and had never even played bingo, let alone gambled for real, with real money.
   I took her through the casino, explaining the games to her. Craps was a mystery, twenty-one was too much strategy, and pai gow was just witchcraft. But roulette caught her eye, with its spinning wheel and bouncing ball and the numbers on the big board out front.
   I explained to Doris that roulette was the worst sucker game on the casino floor, the max payout was 35:1 and there were 38 spaces on the wheel, which gave the house about an 8% advantage right off the bat. She was still mesmerized by the red and black spaces and the green zeros. The game we happened to be watching had lots of chips on the table. As a matter of fact, one lady had a huge stack of chips on 14.
   I then explained to Doris that we were going to watch that lady lose at least $200, and that was only if the chips in her stack were all $5 chips. She could be risking a lot more.
   Spin-spin-spin.
   The ball landed on 14.
   If that was $200, at 35:1 odds the roulette lady collected at least $7000. Doris's eyes lit up.
   The lady who won said 'press.' Meaning let it ride, keep the money on the table. On 14.
   I explained to Doris that we were now going to witness a woman lose $7000. It was madness to win $7000 and then risk it all on the exact same number the very next roll. The croupier spun the wheel and flicked the ball into play.
   Spin-spin-spin.
   The ball landed on 14. For the second time in a row. Against all common sense that lady had let her $7000 ride and had come up to the good. That's why they call it gambling, I suppose. If the lady only had $7000 on 14, at 35:1 odds she had just won about $250,000. She took her chips, colored up, and ran for the cashier's booth.
   Doris looked up at me with dollar signs in her eyes. "I like roulette."