The Money Wheel

The night we returned from Thailand the Dean adults went down to the new Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino. We started the evening at the Shoppes at Marina Bay, the upscale mall attached to the hotel, where we enjoyed a delicious Italian meal with our friends Ivy and Brian Doffing. Vicki and Ivy worked at the same elementary school in Plano for several years and when Vicki found out the Doffings were moving to Singapore, she connected Ivy and me. So, we knew Vicki would enjoy catching up with her school friend.

Dean-Doffing Dinner

After dinner, Brian and I took his parents to the new casino. It was our first visit as well and the Marina Bay Sands was definitely more impressive in size than the casino on Sentosa Island. However, it still had the same quiet, sterile atmosphere that seems typical of Asian casinos. We spent some time walking around the casino, looking at all the games that are unfamiliar to Americans and sharing our disbelief that a casino would need so many Baccarat tables. We were pleased to discover the nonsmoking floor of the casino though.

When we were about ready to head home for the night, Steve couldn't resist doing a little gambling in Singapore, so he approached the "Money Wheel." You didn't have to guess at how this game was played because it was simply a large vertical wheel that had various symbols on it, each separated by a peg. They spin the wheel and you win if it lands on your symbol. Naturally there were different odds based on how many times a particular symbol appeared on the wheel. The first time around Steve put a reasonable bet on one of the symbols with high odds of winning but he lost. Then he opted to let it all ride on his last bet of the evening. So, we agreed to bet on the "yellow vase" with something like 40-1 odds and watched with anticipation when the wheel began spinning. The wheel began slowing down at just the right time to reach the vase symbol and we held our breath while the wheel slowed until it hit the spot with the vase...and then at the last second it clicked past it to the next space on the wheel.

Seeing how close Steve came to a huge win, the four of us all let out a loud, "Awwww!" Immediately the Asians around us turned toward our animated group with looks of disgust that we would be so obnoxiously loud in their serene casino environment. Needless to say, we were amused as we just couldn't help but get excited about our chances, regardless of how quiet everyone else was around us.

But the funniest moment came when we realized that we hadn't nearly won at all. We had actually bet on the red vase with yellow background, not the yellow vase with red background. Our winning symbol was in fact on the opposite side on the wheel. We laughed about how embarrassing it would have been if that wheel had stopped where we believed we had won and made a huge scene, only to then realize we were losers after all.

We continued to giggle about our betting misfortune as we left the casino and waited in an insanely long taxi line to get home that evening. I personally wished Steve had won his bet because he could have used some of his winnings to get us home a little faster! Either way it was a fun adult evening at Marina Bay and we certainly had an amusing, memorable Singaporean gambling experience.