24/7

In Las Vegas, gaming exists everywhere. If an establishment offers gaming, by law it’s required to be open 24 hours a day. Serving food + drink + dreams, they are everywhere, presumably supported by locals. So, in what appears to be a typical American strip mall, maybe there’ll be a nail shop, or a pet groomer, a bank branch, an immediate care clinic and the local 24/7 gambling parlor. Weird. Weirdest of all, this includes the grocery store. Yes, at my local Smith’s, sharing the opposite side of a wall with a Starbucks is a darkened room fitted with slot machines. It’s a convenience that the food store is open 24 hours, but the presence of gambling is well, unsavory. Aren’t grocery stores supposed to be wholesome? Think of it, an employee is refilling the yogurt section at 3am while some customer is spinning the Wheel of Fortune for the 33rd time in the gambling section. It’s off-putting to buy a bag of food and then wheel past a room with people wagering their milk money. What’s the drill? Gamble first, groceries last? Put or take things off your list depending on how your luck runs? For fun I’ve told the checkers to yell “Jackpot!” when people pay with cash and the coins rattle into the change cup. They laugh. So, the two-bit gambling room exists alongside the check-out lanes where sensible people claim pork chops and canned corn and dill pickles, living to prepare dinner for another day. And the grocery store gamblers? They’re betting the spread on mayonnaise.