That’s because Christie added commentary to his rejection in a 31-page conditional veto letter, essentially spelling out the conditions under which he would ultimately approve it, and it is no secret that aside from some minor concerns, most of which have to do with technicalities in the law, Christie is very solidly in favor of legalization.

As a result, those who are trying to get the bill passed know exactly what they have to do to come up with a bill that would be acceptable.

Among the things Christie would like to see is more of the proceeds dedicated to treating problem gamblers, and an increase in the gross taxes from 10% to 15% on any proceeds realized from online gambling in the state. It would also be subject to a yearly review.

Because the law as it is written in new Jersey requires that any and all casino gambling take place in Atlantic City, the bill also mandated that the servers for any online operation would have to be located within the city. And only those who held existing gambling licenses in the Garden State would be eligible to hold internet gaming licenses. That, includes the twelve casinos that are already in business.

One of those casinos could be in the process of changing hands, and that could offer an entree to one of the true giants among online gambling operators. PokerStars, which is by far the largest online poker company in the world, has announced a deal to buy the Atlantic Club Hotel-Casino, which was originally built as the Golden Nugget before becoming the Atlantic City Hilton, with a bargain price of less than $50 million. This would effectively make them an automatic player in the both land-based and internet-based gaming in New Jersey, and would offer them a lot of competitive advantages, not the least of which is the fact that they are up and running right now.

Most people familiar with the gaming industry are aware that PokerStars was part of the “Black Friday” sting that destroyed several online sites in 2011, and the company got involved in some complicated negotiations with the United States Department of Justice to buy out another Black Friday victim, Full Tilt Poker. Much of this would ordinarily be expected to hurt their chances with a gaming commission that is very strict and exacting. But there were two huge dips in revenues along the Boardwalk toward the end of last year, some of which was attributable to Hurricane Sandy, and there is growing competition from Pennsylvania casinos.

The thought is that maybe PokerStars can get through with some lenient treatment from regulators, allowing an outfit with deep pockets to provide a little boost.

In response to some of the emails I have been receiving, I have started to post a few of my favorite slots strategies and also a few from some of my friends. The latest addition is the three spin boogie slots strategy. Granted, this is not a complicated strategy. However, it’s beauty is in it’s simplicity.

This is a strategy that I will often play when I am on a bad losing streak and am just totally frustrated. Many time when this happens, I will just leave and come back another day and hope for better luck. But, sometimes the wife will be winning and not want to leave. Or, Hal will have met me up at Choctaw and we have not been there very long. Either way, I won’t be leaving any time soon, so why not try a different slots strategy that keeps me moving and takes a lot of the monotony out of the evening?

You have probably guessed how the strategy is applied. Spin a slot machine three times and then move on to the next one – win or lose – you move on. As surprising as it might seem, I have had some really good nights playing the three spin boogie slots strategy. And every time it has come after I was on a bad losing streak, which is what caused me to start playing the strategy in the first place. At the very least, I will not lose a lot of money into a single machine. When I do this while on a losing streak, it really pisses me off. And, that is not a recipe for having a good time. Not to mention, it kinda puts a damper on the mood of everyone else. Nobody wants to be around, much less gamble with, someone is in a sorry ass mood due to losing.

So, if you are in a bad spot and you are either losing or you’re suffering from slot machine boredom, then give the three spin boogie slots strategy a try. Maybe it will turn your night around.

By now I am sure that some of you are starting to doubt Hal’s claims as to the amounts won and the frequency of his winnings. I would be a doubter too, but, he shows me the IRS tickets (Forms W-2G) when he wins. So, I know they are legit. What he does not tell me, of course, is how much money he is putting thru the machines to win like he does. This is true with almost all gamblers. They only tell you what they win. Having played with Hal on numerous occasions, I can tell you that the guy gambles some serious coin. His bankroll dwarfs mine, to be sure.

Alright smart guy, you say. How the hell does he win like that then? He still plays the way I laid out in my slots strategies page. There you will find a link to Hal’s VGT Red Screen Slots Strategy. Hal plays is pretty much the same way – only now he takes a much larger bankroll with him when he does go to the casino. And, he plays the $2 slots a lot more often. He thinks they pay off better. I tend to agree with him. At least a Choctaw.

Congratulations to Hal! Wish it had been me.

Being that it was Saturday night, the place was packed. We parked in the parking ramp and I headed straight for the $2 Lucky Duck slots and stuck a C-note into the first one I saw. While I was playing that machine, the women went off on their own. I spent about an hour trying to get the machine to pay off, but, could just not get up very much. After treading water for a while my luck turned and my $100 gradually was taken from me.

I then went to a Polar High Roller machine and put $100 into it as well. Initially, I hit triple bars a couple of times and got up $150. Having not yet had a red screen, I played my winnings down to $100 and cashed out my $200. No red screen though! Strange. I should have known it was a foreshadowing of things to come.

After that, I went to find my wife and Linda. I found them playing Hot Red Ruby slots in front of the buffet. Linda was down $25 and my wife was up around $50. So, I sat down next to my wife and got into the action by putting a hundred dollar bill into the machine. My luck had turned to crap. No red screen, no bars, no nothing! In no time the balance in the machine was zero. Most times when things are that bad my buddy Hal will tell me to put another hundred into the machine and see what happens. And, more times than not you will hit something and recoup at least part of your losses. But, Hal was not along for this trip and I decided to watch Linda and my wife play instead.

Both of them were kind of up and down for the next 20 minutes or so when Linda to her machine to spin on bars. Normally, with these red screen machines that is when you see the biggest payouts. Her machine spun 4 times and she ended up with Red Ruby, Red Ruby, triple bars. Nice! The total for all 4 spins was just over $800!. I meant to take a picture of the screen showing her winnings, but I forgot. Sorry.

The two of them continued to play the Hot Red Ruby slots games for about another 10 minutes or so. But the play was mostly sideways so they cashed out and we moved on to other games. Nothing remarkable happened for the remainder of the evening – other than me losing all of my money. We tried a few penny slot machines such as Secrets of the Forest slots and monopoly slots. And we played a few more of the VGT slot machines like my favorite Star Spangled Sevens slots. But again, nothing spectacular happened.

Linda ended up coming home with an extra $700 in purse and for that I was happy for her. She has had a tough life and glad to see something positive happen for her. My wife won around $100 and I was the big loser for the evening, making a $400 donation to help keep Choctaw casino in business.

We also made the trip to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore, the largest private home in the US. Built by George Vanderbilt and complete in 1895, it is stunning in both sheer scale and beauty. Apart from the house itself, the grounds also feature a winery and very scenic drive thought the property.

The casino itself is nothing short of spectacular. Being that it is located within an Indian reservation, even with the Harrahs name attached, I was expecting the usual small low budget Indian casino. How wrong I was! The lobby features several fountains smartly arranged in a circle that provide an interesting diversion for the eye. The casino floor itself is quite substantial with lots of slots and many gaming tables.

After playing a few slot machines, my search for a $15 blackjack table took some time. There were many tables, but, few open seats. I sat thru a couple shoes and started out slightly down. Towards the end of the second shoe, I got on a run and made up the deficit and a $50 profit. Then, I cashed out. I found the wife who was hitting the slots pretty hard. She was playing a Zeus slots game and I sat to down next to her at a Hearts of Venice game.

She ended up around $50 and I won another $15. At this point, after two hours in the casino, we had to leave. Unfortunately, we had my wife’s folks with us and they do not gamble. So, we got back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway to take pictures of more leaves.
On the whole, I highly recommend Harrahs Cherokee. As fair as the surrounding landscape, it rates right up there with their properties in Lake Tahoe and New Orleans. Things to keep in mind: Valet parking costs $12 unless you have enough points on your card to cover it. And, the drinks are not free. You have to pay for them whether you are playing or not. I asked one of the slot hosts about this and was told that they only got permission to sell alcohol a few weeks ago and that they were not allowed to server complimentary drinks yet. They are planning to offer complementary drinks in the future, if they are able to.

On the plus side, unlike the Indian casinos in Oklahoma, they offer real roulette and craps. To me this are much better games than their card based counterparts that must be offered in Oklahoma where every game has to either be a card game or a bingo game.
So, in addition, the slot machine games you find there are the regular Las Vegas versions of the game rather than the class III version bingo games you find in Oklahoma.

So, drop by Harrahs Cherokee. Especially during the fall when the leaves are changing color. You will not be disappointed.

So, Jerry and I hopped around the casino from one machine to another, playing each one three spins. Sure, there were a lot of machines where we won nothing. But, on a $2 Star Spangled Sevens slot, I hit $520 on my first spin. Then played the machine twice more and left. I hit little amounts here and there, but, that was my major win for the evening. What this strategy does is keep you from playing all of your winnings back into the same machine you won them on. I know I am not the only one who has been guilty of doing this in the past.

My wife ended up losing $300. Jerry came out about even. And Hal…..I swear the luckiest guy I have ever met, well he won around $6K. Yes he makes me sick too.

Hal’s son and his friends also met us up there so we had a fairly large group and we all headed down to the old casino after suffering thru the buffet. Hal claims he wins most of his jackpots in the old section. Hal headed straight for the $2 Star Spangled Sevens slots by the players club and his son and his son’s friends went with him. Jerry and I found a $5 blackjack table and decided to give that a try for a bit. I have always hated the $5 ante they make you pay in Oklahoma. But, we played anyway. Jerry and I played for about half an hour and the table was just moving sideways. So, we quit, both down about $20. When you think about it, without the ante, we would both have been even or slightly ahead. But, we were bored so we quit anyway.

We then found Hal playing a $1 Lucky Duck slots machine. There were six slot machines in this particular bank of machines. I found an empty seat two down from him and put in $100. Things were not going well for me. I was down to $20 before I got a red screen and it spun four times and I ended up with $360. I played it down to $300 just to see if my machine was hot (it wasn’t) and I cashed out at $300. Meanwhile, Hal was up and down but cashed out even. One of his son’s friends was playing next to Hal on the end and he cashed out $80 ahead.

After that we moved over to Hal’s favorite machines, Star Spangled Sevens slots. Again, Hal went to the carousel next to the players club. It features $2 and $5 machines. Hal kept alternating between the $2 and $5 machines. His play was up and down. Sometimes he was ahead $700. Other times I would see him around $200. As I was playing at a bank of $1 Star Spangled Sevens next to the carousel, I could watch him out of the corner of my eye or take a break and get up and go over and check him out. I played $100 into a couple of machines, but, could never get anything to happen.

Around this time, Jerry took off on his own for while. He returned half an hour later with a $500 ticket. He had played the $1 Star Spangled Sevens slots toward the front door of the old section of the casino. About an hour later, I headed up there myself and wast rewarded with a nice $500 winner myself!

One thing I should mention is that there is a group of people who play Star Spangled Sevens slots almost exclusively and Hal knows them all. He had is IRS ticket from earlier in the week with him and he was showing it to everybody. And, I was wrong. It was not for $23,278. It was for $23,600!

By now it was getting close to midnight. I told Hal that we were going home. He said he was leaving as well as he had to get up early the next day. I knew he wouldn’t leave right away as we said goodbye. But, that is Hal. Jerry and I went to find my wife who was now down in the old section of the casino playing Wizard of OZ slots. She did not have a good night. I guess there is not much more to say about that. We then headed up to the new casino and I went into the high limit area to try the $2 Elvis King of Coin slots that I won $800 on earlier in the week. Immediately, I won $30. So, I decided to play that and another $50 to see if I could hit anything at all and keep playing for a while. And, I didn’t. So, I went over the the high limit cashier and cashed in all of my tickets.

On the way to the parking garage, my wife suggested I try $100 in a $2 Lucky Duck machine. I gave it a try, but man! I just did not get a thing. So, after that debacle, we went straight to the car. For the evening, I ended up about $440. My wife was down $400 and Jerry won about $200. Not bad for a night entertainment.

So now it is about 1:30 in the morning and we have just arrived back home and the phone rings. It is Hal. He tells me he has just won $8K in the high limit area of the new casino on a $5 Mr Money Bags slot machine! Unbelievable, the luck this guy has. I talk to him the next morning and he says he won another $1,600 on a Hot Red Ruby slot machine on the way out the door. Wow! Wish it was me.

It is really hard to believe the luck this guy has. But, I have seen either the IRS ticket or the casino checks for his big wins and have personally witnessed a number of them. Looks like we are headed back up to Choctaw Friday evening to get the all you can eat crab legs at the buffet. In addition to meeting Hal up there, we are bringing another friend of mine along. Should be fun.

So, I decided that this was not my night and that I was done. I went to find my wife and watch her play. She was down about 4300 herself when I found her playing a Secrets of the Forest slots game. As soon as I got there, she won some free spins and from there things went really well for her. I can never win anything on that machine. But, last night my lovely wife won $600 playing it.

After she cashed out she decided she wanted to play a Wizard of Oz game and we started walking over toward the buffet (where it used to be – but not anymore) past the high limit area. On a whim, I stepped inside and went to play the Elvis King of Coin slot machine next to the entrance to the mens bathroom. This is a $2 machine and one of my friend Hal’s favorites. I put $20 into it and immediately started getting red screen after red screen. I had seen this happen to Hal before, but never has it happened to me. Within just a couple of minutes, I was up to $880. I played it down to $800 and then cashed out.

I had about $100 beyond the $800 ticket in my pocket and tried some more Red Hot Rubies slots, but they just were not hitting for me. I did win another $50 on a Lucky Duck slot machine. At the end of the evening, I walked out $442 ahead. I talked to Hal. Looks like we will be going back to Choctaw sometime later this week.