Durban day 2 – Casino Sibaya

I did not know what to do on the second day. I feasted on the nice breakfast that Caroline had prepared. The weather was looking bad and it had started drizzling slowly. I left the guesthouse and went to a nearby Internet café to check mail.

The owner of the café was an Indian and I started talking to him. He said that he is from the Telugu land and that his great grand fathers had come here during the sugarcane boom as laborers! I asked them whether he supports SA or India during cricket. He said that it is SA. I think that’s the way it is with the Indians here. They have become true South Africans but nevertheless maintaining some flavors from the roots. He suggested me that I should go to the casino Sibaya.

I started off from there and went towards a place called Bellito, which is further north from Umhlanga. Recently this place got hit by huge waves, which caused damage to lives and property. I could see the damage myself. I spent some time on the beach there watching the waves. There were really huge scary waves or just that it was hit waves recently made them scary! Whatever…

By now it started raining a little bit and there was no point sitting on the beach. I decided to go to Sibaya and have some fun.

Sibaya is built on the top of a mountain and it’s a beautiful place. All around the place there are sugarcane fields and you can see the sea from the place. It’s a lovely view. I had gone to the Sun-coast casino the previous night, but I had not gambled. I thought I would try my luck at Sibaya.

They have a very nice system. To play the slot machines you need to buy a card with a magnetic strip, which will hold information about the money you have won. It will have zero balance initially and you need to go and insert it into any of the machines. Then you insert the money in another slot, which will get updated to the card, and you start playing. If you win it will add to the card. If you lose it will reduce the balance. After you have decided that you have won enough or lost, you have to go and give the card and they will give you the money! Nice system isn’t it

After knowing how to play, I got myself a card and started playing a machine called the Mystery-Jackpot. I was a conservative in the beginning and started with 20 rand. It vanished in no time. I inserted a 50 rand note now and it also went in no time! I got frustrated. You see nobody wants to stop when they are losing. So inserted a 100 rand note now and started playing. I guess lady luck tilted a little bit to my side and I had started winning some money. I had won almost 850 rand with that 100 rand note. Then I lost some money and eventually stopped when the balance was 750. It is all probability I believe. But the machines may have been programmed to make you lose. Sibaya has lots of restaurants inside. I got myself a beer and a pizza and ate a victorious lunch.

It was still raining outside and coincidentally rain had stopped the ICC cricket world cup match between Aus and Sri Lanka. The Aussies haven’t stopped winning for a long time and I wanted them to lose and the theory of probability also said so!! They had reduced the overs to 38 and Gilchrist was looking murderous - he made 149 off 100 balls and Aus made 280+ I guess. The Lankans were playing well but not up-to the required run-rate. Rain stopped the match for some time and it was really a struggle for Sri Lanka with bad light and a bad pitch. They lost eventually.

It was 1 in the night when I finally left the casino. I had a good time, had made some money, watched cricket and it was fun. I was tired and the music of the slot machine was still ringing in my ears when I slept that night. So that was day 2!