Winning by appointment.

Ed checked his watch again and looked at the crowd around him. It was Wednesday night in the MGN Grand and the casino was busy but not exactly packed. He pulled out his phone and checked the email one last time to be safe. He spotted his assigned slot machine, it was on the end of a row near to a ‘crossroad’ where rows of slot machines came together leaving a opening. It was pretty perfect actually. His watch alarm beeped and he stepped up to the machine.

‘Okay,’ he thought ‘Three coins, the third one is a winner’

He started putting coins in, pulling the lever each time. With the third coin all hell broke loose. Bells started to clang, coins started to drop and from somewhere a siren began blaring across the casino. Ed stepped back as the coins started to pile up on the carpet in front of him. People around him were cheering and began to crowd in, but that was expected. Ed stood still, feigning shocked and stunned. People were scooping up the coins as they talked and laughed, congratulating him on his win. The predictions were that a little under 30% of the coin would be stolen. Ed smiled as he took the offered cups of coins into his arms, shifting his grip to carry as many as he could. He couldn’t help but get caught up in the energy of the moment. His smile grew even bigger. At the sound of music casino staff began to march in, waving their arms and cheering. Some of them helped to carry the cups of coins for Ed, others carried a large banner and a series of prizes, all wrapped with large red ribbons. Casino patrons had begun to gather around now, drawn in by the spectacle of the big win. Ed was smiling and nodding and trying not to drop any of the cups in his arms. Then a voice cut through all the noise and a man was grabbing him around the shoulders.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. The MGN is proud to announce that this lucky customer has won our special mid week blow out prize!!”

The voice belonged to man in his forties wearing a shiny, metallic grey, suit who had so much grease in his hair it might constitute a fire hazard. He was brandishing a microphone and flanked on both sides by a struggling member of staff each trying to carry a speaker.

“Tell me sir, what is your name?”

“I’m Ed,” he stammered.

“Well Ed, I can assure you that this is only a small taste of the prizes we have in store for you.”

He was surrounded by bottles of champagne, small kitchen appliances, the latest phones and computers alongside cups and cups of coins from the slot machine, all of this was only part of the prize Ed had just “won”. There was a bright flash as a casino staff member appeared to get some photos. He was doing his best shocked and surprised face, trying to accept prizes and shake hands and match the energy of the customers that were nearby. It seemed everyone wanted to be part of the big win that had just happened. Ed continued to smile and look amazed, everywhere he looked he saw camera phones focused in on him. The staff who had brought in the prizes had been replaced by serving staff passing out flutes of champagne to everyone. All in all the event took only ten minutes, but it might have done it’s job. The money, prizes and Ed himself were swept off with big fanfare all smiles and waves. Together with the casino staff they formed a sort of mini parade that moved down the centre aisle of the main floor. People looked up from the slots and card tables to watch the procession go by. They reached the far end of the floor and whisked Ed into a side room along with the small army of staffers carrying the prizes. Once inside, the prizes were stacked on a side table. Ed moved into a corner out of everyone’s way. The banner was propped up against a wall and the cups of coins that had been collected were lined up on another table.

“Ed!” came a voice from the door

Ed turned to see Isaac pushing his way through the small crowd towards him.

“How did it look?” asked Ed

“Great,” said Isaac “It looked great, I think we got the attention of almost everyone by the end.”

Ed let out a huge breath, and relaxed a little.

“Good” he said “I wasn’t sure if I-”

They noticed a member of casino staff standing next to them waiting impatiently. Ed and Isaac both turned to look. The awkwardness stretched for a moment.

“Could I just-” said the staff member reaching out.

Ed looked down and was surprised to see that he was holding a cup of coins in each hand. He was gripping them tightly and few coins had spilled onto the floor. After a moment he managed to let go of the cups and hand them over.

“I think you are done here Ed.” said Isaac

Ed nodded and headed out of the room.

He had been allowed to use the casinos staff locker room for the evening and headed there now. He changed his clothes and carefully peeled off the fake moustache he had been wearing. With his disguise now all packed up he was let out of a fire exit into the oppressive July heat. His instructions for this part of the exercise were also clear. He was supposed to leave the area and not be seen at the casino for at least two weeks. He knew this but he wanted to look, to see if what they had done had had any effect.

He looked down at his clothes and ran a pointless finger across his upper lip to double check that he had removed the moustache he knew wasn’t there. One little peek couldn’t hurt. He found an alleyway and cut through to the next street over. A few blocks up was the main entrance of the casino. He dug around in his backpack till he found a faded old ball cap and jammed it onto his head. Just a few more steps and he would be able to see through the glass front door.


Two days later Ed was signing out of his day job at Frothy Cup a’ Joe when his phone started ringing.

“Hello Isaac, how’s it going?” he said

“It worked!”

Isaac was so loud Ed had to pull his phone away from his ear.

“Good numbers?”

“Great numbers, man! The casino reckons that after that stunt there was a surge in spending for the next three hours making it phenomenally profitable for the midweek slump.”

“That’s good.”

“They want to try it again and they are willing to up your pay cheque.”

“That’s great!”

“That’s not all. Apparently, the boss spoke about it at his weekly Mah Jong game. There is some interest to try another stunt at some other casinos.”

“How many other casinos?”

Behind him the Frothy Cup o’ Joe espresso machine started to sputter out bursts of steam, followed by a high pitched screeching noise.

“Meet me for coffee tomorrow and we’ll hash it all out,” said Isaac.

Ed hung up the phone and paused a moment before dialling another number. When he heard someone answer he spoke.

“Sorry, wrong number.”

He walked over to the pay phone at the edge of the car park and waited. When it started to ring he picked it up.

“Phase one is complete. In a few days we can move to phase two.” he said.