Casino

Wikipedia Defines a Casino as -- a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. It is furthered explained by indicating the history of the term Casino -- The term "Casino" originally meant a small villa, summerhouse or pavilion built for pleasure, usually on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo. And it is still furthered ellaborated by explaining the history of Casinos themselves and how it was incorporated with gambling -- The Chinese recorded the first official account of the practice in 2300 B.C., but it is generally believed that activity of gambling, in some way or another, has been seen in almost every society in history. From the Ancient Greeks and Romans to Napoleon'sFrance and Elizabethan England, much of history is filled with stories of entertainment based on the games of chance.

Still according to the ever trusty wikipedia, Casinos in the earlier years were known in the US as saloons, I was amazed to know this as I usually see or hear the word saloon in old texas / western movies where the cowboys would go to saloons for drinks and pass time. Which is what most of the people inside Casinos nowadays do, spend money, drink beer, eat, waste money and have a great time.

Here in the Philippines, Pagcor is the legal place for gambling, it is one of the most prominent Casino names in the country. Maybe its because its the one owned by the government.

PAGCOR stands for -- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.  Pagcor was created to: regulate all games of chance, particularly casino gaming in the country, to raise funds for the governments' socio-civic and national developmental efforts, and to help boost the country's tourism industry.

But did you know that PAGCOR, being a government owned casino gives a lot back to the nation by distributing all its earnings to good causes. Examples of these good causes would namely be:

• 5 percent of net winnings goes to the BIR as franchise tax;

• 50 percent of the 95 percent balance goes to the National Treasury as the National Government’s mandated income share;

• 5 percent of the balance after the franchise tax and the National Government’s mandated income share goes to the Philippine Sports Commission for financing of the country’s sports development programs;

• 1 percent of the net cash income goes to the Board of Claims, an agency under the Department of Justice, which compensates victims of wrongful detention and prosecution;



• Cities hosting PAGCOR casinos are given a fixed amount for their respective community development projects;
The remaining balance is then remitted to the President’s Social Fund to help fund the priority projects of the government.

And there is a lot more good charities or causes that PAGCOR is part of. So taking your time to enjoy in one of their casinos not only helps you personally enjoy, but also helps our government achieve their socio-civic goals and responsibilities.

But besides the facts that can be researched from wikipedia about casinos and from PAGCOR's website about the pagcor casino, did you know that besides the wide variety of gambling activities or games that you can play, they will also offer you free unlimited drinks and food that they have available in their kitchen? thats right, they do!

My husband, Noel, and I went there tonight to celebrate the weekend and to welcome fathers day. The original plan was to go to The Library Restaurant and Comedy bar, but that did not work out due to the very eerie location that the comedy bar was located in (Malate, near Adriatico). Noel is very particular about where he parks his car as he is very careful with his car and sadly The Library like any other establishment in the adriatico circle did not have a really decent parking. Luckily, when we were driving around the place we came across one PAGCOR Casino where Noel mentioned that if we do not push through with our original plan of going to the comedy bar that we should try spending our date night in the Casino and I totally agreed. Besides, that will count as my second time inside a casino.

So were there in PAGCOR, we decided to spend a maximum of Php2,000 for that night. Once we were inside I told him that we should start by playing with the slot machines first, start small and start slow. We changed one Php500 bill to slot machine coins and played for almost an hour on 1 of the slot machines. Then I mentioned to him that we should order some food and drinks because its free. He did not believe me at first, but I remembered during my first Casino visit with my dad that I ate 3 clubhouse sandwiches and tons of iced tea and did not pay even 1 peso. So to be sure that the rules are still the same, I called the attention of one of the attendants and asked whether the food and drinks are still free, and to Noel's surprise and disbelief, it is. The only difference this time is that you have to have this PAGCOR ID before you can order anything. So we immediately went to the concierge, asked what the process is to get the PAGCOR ID, and within minutes we had our ticket to our free meal!

So the night went on, we were fed and watered, well we were mango-shaked *wink*. I decided its time to play the baccarrat. We went to the gambling tables and left the trusty, slot machines and went to the other side of the room, where the baccarrat tables are, along with the pontoon tables, the roullettes, the craps tables and the poker tables. I told Noel that we should observe the tables first, watch which tables are lucky for the players and which tables are lucky for the "house" (the Casino), there was this one baccarrat table that I was observing and it was unbelievable because while I was watching, I noticed that the House (the dealer of the casino) is really, unbelievably lucky. He kept winning the hands even if he had the most terrible cards. If my calculations are correct I can assume that he won 19 out of the 20 deals that he made, and I am not exaggerating. So I thought, ok maybe I should try it out. But being the smart person that I think I am (LOL) I went to the other baccarrat table to ask what the minimum bet is, and to my dismay the minimum bet is way beyond my budget. See, I was hoping to exchange a Php500 bill to the house money and play the baccarrat table, I was hoping to bet Php100 per game, unfortunately I was shocked to hear that the minimum bet per game is Php500. So I decided not to play, as I felt that baccarrat is something that I really can not afford. After hovering some more on the other tables, watching rich players lose their money, Noel and I decided to go back to the slot machines and order more food.

Although I was disappointed that we were not able to watch a comedy show, I was really happy at this new experience that Noel and I shared.  I would say that this is something that we can talk about in the years to come, something that we can reminisce about. And although it was sad how expensive the baccarrat tables were, I'm glad we got stuck in the slot machines where I realized that I am not a gambler and that I went to the Casino to just have a different kind of fun. We still ended up losing Php800, but We managed to get stuffed with all the free food and drinks that we can get. And all in all I think 800 pesos is but a small price to pay for this fun-filled night that I am sure Noel and I will remember for the rest of our lives, besides its the first of all the Casino (free food and drink) trips that we will have.

Till our next!

Who am I?

Hey! I'm glad I decided to start writing my brain farts again!! I am really happy. I used to love writing and thinking and writing some more when I was younger. Well I'm still young, or at least I'd like to think that I am still young since I am only 25 years old.

I am married and I have a beautiful daughter who looks NOTHING LIKE ME!! yeah, sad as that may seem, she looks so much like her dad. And that's a good thing, because I'd like to think that my husband is handsome. all my daughter got from me is her gender and her vanity.

I am a writer, or I used to be. So now I want to rekindle my passion for writing and I hope I would get to entertain some of you along the way.

Cheers!