Certainly, Mr. Big!
I used to cross the United States
in my automobile every summer, trying to make it to the Pacific Ocean. But, for various reasons, I would always
get stuck somewhere-usually in Las Vegas.
I remember the first time, particularly, I liked it very much. Then, as now, Las Vegas made its
money on the people who gamble, so the whole
problem for the hotels was to get people to
come
there to gamble. So they had shows and dinners which were very inexpensive--almost free. You
didn't have to make any reservations for anything: you could walk in, sit down at one of the many empty tables, and enjoy the show. It was just
wonderful
for a man who didn't gamble, because I was enjoying all the advantages--the
rooms were inexpensive, the meals were next to nothing, the
shows were good, and I liked the girls.
One day I was lying around the pool at my motel, and some guy came up and started to talk to me. I can't remember how he got started, but his
idea was that I
presumably worked for a living, and it was really quite silly to do that. Look how easy it is for me," he said. "I just hang around the
pool all the time and enjoy life in Las Vegas."
"How the hell do you do that without working?"
"Simple: I bet on the horses."
"I don't know anything about horses, but I don't see how you can make a living betting on the horses," I said, skeptically.
"Of course you can," he said. "That's howl live! I'll tell you what: I'll
teach
you
how to do it. We'll go down and I'll guarantee that you'll win a
hundred dollars."
"How can you do that?"
"I'll
bet
you a hundred dollars that you'll win," he said. "So if you win it doesn't cost you anything, and if you lose, you get a hundred dollars!"
So I think, "Gee! That's right! If I win a hundred dollars on the horses and I have to pay him, I don't
lose anything; it's just an exercise--it's just
proof that his system works. And if he fails, I win a hundred dollars. It's quite wonderful!"
He takes me down to some betting place where they have a list of horses and racetracks all over the country. He introduces me to other people
who say, "Geez, he's great! I won a hunerd dollas!"
I gradually realize that I have to put up some of my own money for the bets, and I begin to get a little nervous. "How much money do I have to
bet?" I ask.
"Oh, three or four hundred dollars."
I haven't got that much. Besides, it begins to worry me: Suppose I lose all the bets?
So then he says, "I'll tell you what:
My advice will cost
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