... But enough about the city. How was the gambling?

I'm not going to tell you about my cousin Jeffrey's $3000 in blackjack winnings. I'm also not going to tell you about my sister's friend Ryan's $940 slot machine jackpot. This is because Vegas exists to take money from people and I do not wish to feed the beast further by spreading tales of fantastic luck and wealth. Remember, kids, while it could happen to you, it won't, because if it was that common the casinos would go bankrupt. So nyeah.

Me? I pitched in a $40 stake -- which isn't a lot considering that the minimum bet on most anything without "slot" in the title is $10 or more -- and sat myself down at a roulette table the first night. I made some small gain and walked away for a bit, then sat back down and saw a good streak turn it into $90. The second night, I went back to the tables and tried to repeat the feat with $40 of my winnings. The wheel quickly cleaned that out and I stopped while I still had a few dollar chips.

My mom, who was enjoying watching all of us young'uns play but didn't feel like sitting down and betting herself, gave me $50 of her money to see what I could do. I promptly got cleaned out again, and -- frustrated -- dropped the last $13 of that $50 all at once, where it won at 2:1 odds. After some consideration, we decided to drop that $39 on the same bet and then stop, win or lose -- and after a brief, agonizing moment of begging the wheel for a high number, it turned out just barely not high enough.

So mom went down $50 with my capable assistance. Still, I walked out of Vegas up a modest $19.01:

• Cumulative $14 in roulette winnings.
• Plus $5 from a decent payout off $2 at a quarter slot machine.
• $0.01 up from a penny found on the ground on the casino floor.

(For the record, I'm not counting lodging, food, transportation, souvenirs, etc., in the up/down total, because I came to Vegas for my sister's 21st birthday -- trip expenses were for her party, not for the purpose of gambling.)