It was all about the script, and no one was better at writing them than Billy.
At noon, his crew assembled in the sky palace’s living room. Cory and Morris were showing no ill effects from their night on the town and wore jeans and polo shirts. Travis had gone upscale, dressed in khakis and a blazer with mother-of-pearl buttons. Misty wore a miniskirt and silk blouse and looked like a runway model.
The script began with Billy addressing his crew.
“Afternoon, everyone. Ready to have some fun?”
His crew responded with an enthusiastic yes.
“Then let’s go.”
His crew followed Billy out of the sky palace. Billy walked across the hall and knocked on the front door to Wang’s digs. “Hey Tommy, it’s Billy. Rise and shine, my friend.”
After returning from the Hard Rock, they’d had several rounds of drinks in a bar called Havana Nights, and Billy and Wang were now on a first-name basis. Wang opened the door wearing a bathrobe. He had just rolled out of the sack and his hair looked like a bird’s nest.
“Good morning, Billy. How are you?” Wang said.
“I’m doing great. Sleep well?”
“Very well. And yourself?”
“Like a log. I’m heading down to the casino to do some gambling. Care to join me?”
Wang’s grin disappeared. Wang had been sent to Vegas to win back the money he’d lost, yet so far he’d avoided the casino like the plague. DeSantis had to be all over him, just like he was all over Billy. Billy had to believe that Wang was scared of losing everything again, and the dire consequences he’d face upon returning home.
“I woke up feeling lucky. You know that feeling?” Billy asked.
Pepper appeared at Wang’s side. She wore one of Wang’s long-sleeve dress shirts and nothing else. Her hair was also a bird’s nest. She gave Wang’s arm a loving squeeze.
“I think so,” Wang said, sounding a little shaky.
“Of course you do,” Billy scolded him. “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. It’s what separates the winners from the losers. So let’s go win some money.”
Wang still wasn’t sold. “I must get dressed. I will join you later.”
“Take your time. I’ll see you downstairs. You like to play roulette?”
Pepper let out a squeal, then spoke her line. “I love roulette. It’s my favorite game.”
“I like roulette, too,” Wang said.
“I’ll save you and Pepper a seat at the table,” Billy said.
Albert Einstein once said that the only way to win at roulette was by stealing chips off the table. Einstein figured out what countless gamblers before him had discovered the hard way. Roulette was for suckers, the odds of winning so impossibly high that nearly no one ever did.
Billy placed a call to DeSantis during the ride down in the elevator.
“Hey, Eddie, how’s it going?” he said.
“Good morning, Mr. C. How are we doing today?”
“I’m heading down to the casino to win some of my money back. Would it be possible for you to open up a roulette table for us?”
“I’d have to ask my bosses, Mr. C.”
“I’ve got seven people in my party, so there should be seven chairs at the table.”
“I’ll call you right back, Mr. C.”
“I hear a hint of hesitation in your voice, Eddie.”
“I need the approval of the casino floor manager. It’s his decision.”
“Tell the floor manager that if he says no, I’ll go play someplace else.”
“Understood, Mr. C. Let me work some magic.”
“You do that, Eddie.”
Nevada’s casinos were required to follow rules regarding their daily operations. These rules included dealer procedures, handling money, and requests from customers. If a casino broke these rules, it could lead to a strict fine or suspension of their gaming license.
These rules didn’t apply to whales. Whales could ask for whatever they wanted, and often did. If a casino refused to honor a whale’s request, the whale would leave, and millions would fly out the door. As a result, a whale’s request was rarely turned down.
Billy felt certain that Carnivale would open up a roulette table for him. In fact, he would have been willing to bet money on it.
The elevator doors parted. They made a detour at Starbucks and ordered drinks. Billy went for a mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream and a cherry on top, while everyone else got the brew of the day. As they left the shop, Misty filched the cherry and popped it into her mouth.
“Thief, thief,” he said.
“So sue me,” Misty said.
Weekends saw a swelling of visitors from Southern California, and Carnivale’s casino was filling up. The roulette area had four tables and was sectioned off by a thick velvet rope.
DeSantis was there to greet them. The host unlatched the velvet rope and ushered them over to a table with seven chairs positioned around it. Their croupier was a handsome Latino dressed in a cream-colored jacket. Standing next to him was the game’s banker.
“Mr. C., let me introduce you to Rafael, your croupier.”
“Nice to meet you, Rafael,” Billy said.
“The pleasure is mine, Mr. C.,” the croupier replied.
Rafael gave the wheel a vigorous clockwise spin and sent the little white ball in the opposite direction. The ball raced at blinding speed around the wheel’s tilted circular track before losing momentum and falling into one of the numbered pockets. In keeping with the Carnivale’s Cuban theme, the wheel was an old-fashioned design called a high-profile that featured pockets slightly deeper than their newer counterparts.
“A seven. That’s my lucky number!” Pepper exclaimed.
Tommy Wang and Pepper joined Billy’s crew at the table. Wang wore a black short-sleeve shirt and black trousers that seemed to be a uniform among Asian gamblers. Pepper wore matching leather pants and jacket that showed off every curve.
A cocktail waitress took their drink orders. Billy leaned over and whispered in Pepper’s ear.
“I heard glass break earlier. You get things worked out?”
“What do you think?” she said with a wink.
There were two variations of roulette, French and American. The French version had a zero on the wheel along with the numbers one through thirty-six. The addition of the zero gave the casino a 2.7 percent edge.
In the American version, there was a zero and a double zero along with the one through thirty-six. The addition of the double zero gave the house a whopping 5.26 percent edge.
In keeping with the tradition of ripping off its customers, the Carnivale’s wheel was the American version with the higher edge.
Being an accountant, Wang quickly noted the higher house edge.
“This is a risky game,” Wang confided to Billy.
“The bigger the risk, the greater the reward,” Billy said.
Roulette players used special plastic chips that had no value away from the roulette table. These chips came in a variety of colors, with different colors assigned to players at the table. Once a player had his chips, he was allowed to decide what denomination he wanted his chips to be. The croupier then placed a chip on the rail with a marker on top to indicate each player’s chip value. The whales went first.
“Five thousand a chip,” Billy said.
Wang hesitated. He had obviously not wanted to start at such a high amount. Pepper dropped her hand on Wang’s thigh and gave it a squeeze.
“The same,” Wang echoed.
Billy’s crew declared their values, which ranged between ten dollars and a hundred.
“Place your bets,” the croupier said.
The table had an electronic board, which displayed the last twenty numbers the ball had landed on. This was done as a courtesy to the players to let them see if their lucky number had recently come up. The numbers were meaningless, but players still consulted them.