12/15/2022
We got to work around three-thirty and Maggie dropped me off at the employee entrance and went on
to the employee parking lot. There were not very many people wanting to clock in early, so I was on the
floor by three-forty and immediately sought out the head mechanic. He was beginning to soften his
attitude towards me when he saw I was serious about learning about slot machines. The history and
mechanics of the one-armed bandits is fascinating and low-level compared to the missile mechanics
courses I took in the Air Force. I was already ahead of guys who had been going to classes six to eight
months ahead of me. The machines used the number of reels and the number of symbols on each reel
to calculate payoffs. The cherry was the lowest symbol to pay coins to the customer and could be found
in abundance on the first two reels on a three-reel machine, and only one or two or the third reel. There
would be lots of cheap payouts and fewer of the higher payoffs. The same logic was used on four- and
five-reel machines. Again, the closer one got to the strip or prime real estate downtown, the more
competitive the resorts were in advertising winner percentages of 95% and up to their customers. Even
at 99%, the casinos are happy to take a penny out of the millions of dollars that flow thru the machines
daily. The casino’s take rises with the increase in value of a single coin. Dollar machines hold two to
three dollars, for every hundred played. The resorts rely on volume and the excitement of winning to
grab more than the posted returns on their marquees. As the saying goes, “The next best thing to
gambling and winning, is gambling and losing!”. The player feels the same adrenaline rush with the turn
of a card, the drop of the roulette ball, the lie of a die, and reels coming to rest on a slot machine.
Gambling spawns all kinds of sure-fire techniques and plays to beat the house, and the house will gladly
encourage them to try them all. We talked about machines and the growth of slot operations, and he
asked if I had heard of the new coinless slots that paid in credits instead of coins. They are fully
electronic and there are no handles to pull or having to feed coins into the machine. The savings in
employee costs were huge, and the machines would be much more difficult to tamper with, or so the
smart guys proclaimed. What I got out the conversation was that we needed to strike while the iron was
hot, the new machines would be in place by the end of next year.
Nola was just finishing up with one of the change booths just as I got to the floor, so I snuck behind her
and put my hands over her eyes.
“I remember those hands, Mr. Broomfield.’ You lost your chance last night.”

“I don’t know ma’am. Two more minutes and we would have been knocking knees and I would have
gotten you for rape.”, I replied.
“You can’t rape the willing.”
“I’m willing to test that theory anytime you like.”
I removed my hands and walked to the front and faced her.
“I want it to happen when you can’t blame it on the alcohol, just a case of “Jungle Fever. By the way,
Maggie wants to start tonight, so I told her we could write a couple of three-hundred-dollar jackpots.
She’s raising money to bring her son from New Mexico.”
“That’s great, I really like Maggie and I think she will be a good addition to the team.”
We became a modern-day version of the “Three Musketeers”, with a twist of Robin Hood. When Nola
had her kids, we spent time at her place because it had a pool. We spent many nights playing pool, bar
hopping, and occasionally they would go with me to the strip club and buy me lap dances. Maggie fit
right into our den of thieves and she and Nola became the best of friends. On the skim side, things were
relaxed enough for us to go full throttle. The East Coast junketeers were happy their girlfriends and
wives had a place to hang out, and we catered to their every whim. I thought of using a couple of the
girls for catchers, but it wasn’t worth the risk of one of the old broad’s being a real Mafioso and turning
me in. We were averaging $7500.00 a week, and no one seemed to notice. Things were going so well
the thought crossed my mind that I could bring some excitement to one of the East coast ladies by
dropping a $300.00 payout in their lap. The thought disappeared completely, when I sobered up.
One night Bob and I were touring the outer perimeter of the slot department and he nudged me
pointing pointed to a solitary older lady playing multiple hands of blackjack. She was dressed in an
evening gown and carried a white fur piece to drape across her shoulders. Valiant attempts to remove
years from her facial features and neck, had instead left her scarred. Her lips were painted red, blue eye
shadow drew attention to her eyes, which were brightly lit up an otherwise common appearance.
Everything about her screamed wealth, so I teasingly asked Bob if she was one of his escorts. She wore
expensive rings on both hands, and a large platinum bracelet on her left wrist, held stones that matched
the ones in her earrings. She glared at the young, male, dealer facing her, as he swept up the chips from
her three losing hands and acknowledged a push on the fourth. It was hard for the dealer to mask his

pleasure at taking her chips. She cursed him and his family and ordered another rack of hundred-dollar
chips. The staff hated that she played at all, because she was a sore loser and never tipped the dealers
when she won.
“You really don’t know who that is?”, Bob had a surprised look on his face.
“No, I don’t have a clue.”, I replied.
“She an old, retired actress?”
“That, young man, is the one who signs your pay checks. That’s Lillian Schenker, the owner’s wife.
“Wow, I thought they weren’t allowed to play in their own casino.”
“They do what the heck they want”
He went on to explain Morris Schenker’s role as an attorney for the Teamsters union and how he was
able to use his position to obtain a loan to finance his takeover of the resort. He and his wife, also an
attorney, held positions in the Hotel /Casino, and had a large office on the executive floor. They were
both suffering with health issues, but they enjoyed playing host to special guests, including a smattering
of Nevada politicians, along with the high rollers. We continued our walk around the slot area with Bob
referencing placement of new slot machines from blueprints provided by the construction team
overseeing the work. There were plans for a new casino to be located on the corner opposite Caesars
Palace and it will be named the Oasis. The two buildings will connect via a walkway, and they will
operate under a single manager. It seemed a tall order to have everything ready in 12-16 months, but I
was thinking of ways our skimming operation could use the construction period and addition of another
casino area to our benefit. Bob was explaining the supervisor positions that would open but I was intent
on finishing the slot mechanic course, it paid better, and the mechanics worked on their own, for the
most part. I enjoyed the interaction with customers and my fellow employees, but the return to earning
college credits had me looking at the Casino Management degree offered at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas, UNLV. I would be using the G I Bill to pay for classes outside of the slot mechanic course.
I left Bob and went to the break room to get off my feet. I found a spot on the couch and grabbed our
copy of the Griffin Book. Ever since I learned of its existence, it became my favorite reading. There was
an update on spooners, which are cheats that fashion a household spoon into a device that can be
inserted in a coin slot and the player can hold the device in a manner that mimics the motion of putting
a coin in the slot. This works well if cameras or an agent in a cat perch in the ceiling are watching. The

motion causes the machine to count each motion as a coin would. The battle started with coins
attached with glue to a filament line that allowed the coin to be reused again and again by pulling it up
by the string. Manufacturers installed a blade to cut the line and the thieves then switched to metal
wires. It was more interesting than clearing coin jams or supplying change to a booth or carousel, and it
appealed to my criminal side.
Maggie and I agreed on my doing the cooking and she would clean up. The arrangement suited our
abilities and desires; she loved cleaning, and I am a culinary genius. I learned to cook Mexican dishes and
started her on different soul food dinners. We had decorated the small apartment with a few throw rugs
and furniture from the second-hand store because she would be leaving to pick up her son Adam, in two
weeks. Now he was enjoying the attention of being the first male child born into a bevy of female
cousins. Her sister, Lenore, had delivered three daughters, and she was the one who was caring for
Adam. I offered to go with her and help with the driving, but she wanted to make the trip alone. She
said she had not told anyone about her roommate, and she didn’t want to deal with two issues at the
same time. Adam had just past the three-month mark, and Maggie was haunted by the memory of
losing her first son to crib death. Cleo and Nola arranged a baby shower, and I begged off in order to
attend to some of the many parts of my life that had been on hold since our bowling date. A couple of
good weeks made it possible to send her off with plenty of gas and food money and paid for a new set
of tires and a tune up. Maggie was overwhelmed at the outpouring of love and generosity from people
who barely knew her. I made a cameo appearance at the shower to drop off my gift and kiss Maggie
good-bye. She was going to leave as soon as the shower party was over. She preferred the light, night
traffic, over the daytime heat and congested roads. The Dunes had learned of our relationship when the
payroll department did their annual information gathering and noticed our addresses were the same. I
would be moving to the graveyard shift the week after she returned to Las Vegas.
Cheryl had left a message for me to contact her, and I planned to meet with her after she finished her
shift in the poker room at the Sahara casino. I had not seen or spoken to her in about five months and
wondered what was going on with her. I got to the poker room just as she was gathering her items to
leave. Cheryl looked gorgeous as always. I was happy to see her face light up with a smile and she
hugged me tightly as we walked to her car in the employees parking lot. Cheryl asked me to follow her
to our spot and as soon as I closed my car door, she took off with tires screeching, leaving tire tracks on
the polished concrete garage floor. I followed her at a leisurely place, knowing she would be exactly
where she said she would be, when I got there. One of our first dates had been to the McCarran

Airport’s parking area for aircraft enthusiasts. The Strip served as the backdrop for flights arriving and
departing from the airport as seen from the parking area. We loved the place because of the scenery
and because it was privacy in the middle of a public place. Many of our rendezvous after splitting up
were to make love to the sound of the aircrafts taking off. It seems that Cheryl wanted to repeat one of
those sessions, which we did, before and after we caught each other up on the latest news in our lives.
Relationships were excluded from the conversation, which allowed us to conclude our visits as friends, and we made promises to stay in touch.

To be continued…………..

Barron Broomfield