There’s an urban legend out there about a man who could go into any Casino in any town, walk straight up to a slot machine, whisper something into its slot, tug on its arm and out would pour a jackpot.

He was known as the Slot Machine Whisperer.

Well, I’ve never met anybody like that. But in nearly every Casino I’ve been I’ve heard people talk of this legend. I’ve seen people talk to slot machines. I’ve seen people yell at slot machines. I’ve seen people smack slot machines. But I’ve never seen them win the jackpot after doing such a thing.

The first time I heard about the Slot Machine Whisperer I was in a Reno Casino. I was playing blackjack when I heard a buzz go through the Casino. The player next to me, who’s name was Max, told me that the buzz was because somebody had spotted the Slot Machine Whisperer enter the Casino. Max then went on to tell me the legend of the Whisperer and how he had mastered slot machines.

Shortly after that there were security guards running all over the place. And they were all headed straight to the slot pit.

Max told me this was highly unusual as the Slot Machine Whisperer was a very gentle man. And that he only took the jackpot from one slot machine. He never tried to take a Casino for every slot machine jackpot. Max also told me that the Whisperer also gave half his slot machine jackpots to an orphanage. He wasn’t a greedy man.

A few minutes later we saw security hauling a man out of the slot pit. The word was that he was not the Slot Machine Whisperer but 

 some thief who was trying to use an electrical device to cheat the slot machines.

I’ve never run into the Slot Machine Whisperer. I don’t know if he even exists. I think of him as an urban legend or a myth some slot machine player dreamed up.

But the thought of a person who can master slot machines just by whispering to them is sort of romantic. Like a modern day Casino Robin Hood.

Copyright Pamela Pompeii. All rights reserved.
 
Pamela Pompeii is a leader in a new breed of stylized journalism.

 

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