A Trip to Harrah's Joliet

Over the break, I went down to Joliet for a little bit of gambling with Nat's Grampy and Great Uncle.  They're regulars there, so they knew the ropes.  Me?  First timer.  Well, that's not actually true.  But I was a first time registrant in their "Total Rewards" program.  The guys played video poker and I poked around at a couple of slot machines.  I ended up - get this - walking away with a few hundred dollars in my pocket! 

Beginners luck, I suppose.

I also found that they had this little soda machine in the corner of the casino floor.  It is a free-style-like machine, but it is from Pepsi, which was new to me. 

This was interesting to me in that it shows how they're removing people from the equation at the casinos.  First it was the change machines and ticket machines.  Where they replaced cashiers. 

Now soda machines to reduce the number of waitresses who are walking the floor.