I'm a morning person and so, even in Vegas (or moreso since there's no clock in the room), I was up at my normal time. Since I'm also normally on EST, this meant I was awake at 0300 or 0300. The first morning I tried to find breakfast early and found that the slots were full of disabled and/or elderly people who were trying to win their way to riches. And it was the slots that they seemed to think was the best way to get there.

Talk about depressing ... I didn't mind spending a few bucks gambling for the entertainment and comaraderie but these people definitely couldn't afford even a single pull of the handle. Talking to a relatively low-level employee at the casino, she said that the floor was full that day because it was the week that public assistance checks were received in the mail ... and that the casinos shooed them out of the building by 0600 or 0700 so that the regular guests were unlikely to see what was happening.

I’m not sure if many people enjoy them. A lever that dispenses random rewards is basically a purpose built addiction machine.

I saw a woman win 15k last night. On an 88¢ bet on a slot machine.

That’s one reason why people play them: they know people do occasionally win big. Why not them?