I was playing Elvis pinball, a fine game the praises of which I am sure I have sung here before. Unfortunately, the game at my local arcade has gotten rather run down, and in my first game, started behaving erratically. On my very first ball, moments into play, the game went into multiball mode, with ball saver mode also active. Once I got Hound Dog mode going, you can imagine how I racked up the points. Eventually ball saver came to an end, but multiballs kept starting for no apparent reason. As I was playing my first ball, up to about 600,000,000 points, and realizing it would be almost impossible not to get the new high score, I began thinking about that Twilight Zone episode, where the gambler dies and goes to a Vegas-style afterlife, with gambling and women, and he begins to win and win and win, and eventually he decides it's not in his nature to enjoy winning, so he asks his guardian angel if he can leave heaven and go to the other place, to which the "angel" replies, this isn't heaven, this is the other place. As I raked in the points at Elvis pinball with no effort to speak of, I began to wonder if I failed to wake up one morning a week or so ago, and that those of you reading this blog are merely fellow travelers in an ethereal nether region where my spirit is no longer hindered by probability and statistics. For my gambling winnings are piling up to a degree that's, frankly, scary.

Of course, I haven't seen a penny of that money, yet. I got an e-mail from Casino On Net (the operators of which, judging from their newly designed website, with the annoying pop-ups missing from the main page, at least, must read this blog), explaining that my cashout would be delayed a few days, because my check to them has not yet cleared. As they pointed out to me in the e-mail, this is a reasonable policy, as it probably does take the purported seven days for an American check to clear in Gibralter, which I believe is where Casino On Net is based. I was slightly annoyed that it wasn't until the third day of processing my cash-out (said processing generally taking one day, according to their own timetable) that they bothered to contact me about the delay, and more annoyed that their e-mail claimed the delay was required "according to our cashout policy," when their cashout policy says nothing of the kind. Again, I ultimately feel that it is reasonable for them to require the initial deposit to clear before processing a cashout, but I am still disappointed that they were more obtuse about this policy than they admit. What this means, of course, is that I will not have that money in time for my Vegas trip.

But I had already concluded it was unlikely I would have that money for Vegas. I was hopeful, however, I would have my money from King Solomons Casino. And I was still hopeful that, should they process my cashout by tomorrow morning (now this morning), I could still get the funds to my bank in time for the trip. Then I remember Armistice Day, bank holiday, and realize it's extremely unlikely the money will be available by my trip. Which means I will be going to Vegas with a very puny (by my standards) bankroll. For a brief trip, I should be okay, unless my luck is horrendous, but since I am, as I've said, a wraith of good fortune doomed to spend my eternal non-existance accumulating winnings, that shouldn't be an issue. But I'm less concerned now about getting my money from King Solomons Casino in time for Vegas than I am about getting my money at all. By their time frame, the money should have hit my account today, but it did not. But I understand that one's first cashout might take slightly longer than is typical, so I'll give them a break. I wouldn't worry at all, except that it is at King Solomons that I have had luck that I am hesitant to believe mortal men can have. Basically I log in, win money, take a break, log in, and win more money. So I now have a lot of money to cash out of my account, and am wondering if I'll ever see that money. Again, my experience in the past leads me to think highly of King Solomons Casino. In my experience with them the last few weeks, they've extended good offers to me, and I had no major problems. But it's easy for them to treat me well when I'm losing, but now that they owe me a lot of money, are they willing to pay up? Time will tell...I will be sure to update you on my experiences with cashing out from both King Solomons Casino and Casino On Net.

As for Elvis, I did earn a high score, about 1,300,000,000 points. I was hesitant to enter my initials, as I didn't truly earn that high score, but I did. Makes up for the high scores I lost when they moved the machine into the back (though I'm pretty sure I didn't have the number one slot).