Turning 18 brings many new possibilities to a person’s life. They are now considered an adult, they can vote, they are responsible for their actions, and with it comes the opportunity to venture to new places like a casino. A couple of friends and myself decided that we would take a day to adventure to the casino for a couple of hours to try our luck at striking it rich and overall encompassing the experience.

After school, we decided to head up to Mille Lacs to hit up the big ole’ Grand Casino. The place was moderately busy as the weekend was just starting, but there were plenty of open spots to sit down. The 45-minute drive was no problem, and it left for some great bonding moments along the way. Once we arrived at the casino, we found a place to park and ventured our way to the main entrance.

Stepping in for the first time it was quite an overwhelming feeling. Lights are flashing everywhere as all the games are up and running, and there is a potent smell of smoke as it was common inside. Within in 10 steps of entering the casino, we were instantly flagged down by the security to show our ID’s to prove that we actually were 18 and belonged in the casino. Once past this step, we ventured to one of the buffets in the casino to feast up before finally trying our luck.

The food in the buffet was a seafood night with lots of other choices, so you definitely could find something to suit yourself. The food was good but for a moderately steep price. After filling up, we decided that we were going to venture out to the games and test our luck at the casino games.

We decided that we were only going to stick to slots for our first trip because it seemed like it was the most user-friendly game to play for beginners. We each found a set of slots next to each other, and we sat down and whipped out some cash to insert into the slots. After a couple of hiccups, we found the place to insert our cash, and we hit the big button not necessarily realizing how much money we had just lost. As the first roll came in a series of lines appeared on our screen displaying winnings that were not so easy to decrypt. Not really knowing how you had won or lost was one of the most difficult pieces for myself as a beginner.

After a multitude of triumphs and tribulations, we hit our spending limit within an hour and decided to call it quits and minimize the damage. Although we may not have won any money that night it was quite an experience that every new adult should at least try once.