The Artesian Hotel Casino Spa | 500+ Slots, Table Games & Fine Dining

I was just killing time between meetings, figured I'd throw twenty bucks into a machine while my coworkers were still in lunch. Hit three sevens and honestly thought it was a malfunction at first. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely press the button to call the attendant. Kept saying 'this isn't real, this isn't real' over and over. I'm using it to finally pay off my car and put the rest toward my daughter's college fund—something I've been worried about for years.

Been playing blackjack for about fifteen years, never hit anything bigger than a couple grand. That night I was down a few hundred and almost left early, but my buddy convinced me to stay one more hour. Got a run of dealer busts and some perfect splits—felt like everything was going my way. When I cashed out and saw that number on the receipt, I actually had to sit down for a minute. We're taking our first family vacation to Florida in the spring, someplace nice we couldn't afford before.

I've been playing poker seriously for eight years and finally qualified for the bigger tournament. Made it deep but wasn't expecting to actually place—the competition was fierce and I was honestly nervous the whole time. Got lucky with a couple key hands in the final table and just stayed calm, played my game. When they announced my name as runner-up, I couldn't beleive it. This money means I can finally quit my day job and pursue poker full-time, which has been my dream since I started.

My mom had just passed away a few months before, and my sister suggested I take a weekend to get out of the house and clear my head. We were at the roultete table just having fun, not really expecting anything. I put twenty dollars on her birthday number—March 15th—and it hit. Started crying right there because she always loved birthdays and used to play roulette with my dad. My sister hugged me and we both just stood there. I'm setting half aside for her memorial garden and using the rest to take my family on the trip she always wanted us to do together.

Was visiting from out of state for the holidays and walked in cold with my wife. She said I should try the Buffalo Gold machine because I'd won a little there before. Put in forty bucks, hit the free spins bonus, and it just kept going and going. My wife was bouncing on her toes the whole time. The final number seemed crazy high, so high I thought I'd misread it at first. We used it to cover all our medical bills from the year and still had enough left over for a nice holiday bonus for the house.

I'm not usually a big gambler—mostly came for my husband's birthday weekend. He was playing blackjack and convinced me to try Three Card Poker, said it was simpler. Got a straight flush on my third hand ever and honestly had to ask the dealer if that was good. My face turned bright red when they explained how much I'd won. It felt surreal walking away from a table feeling like a winner instead of just having fun and losing a little. We're putting most of it in savings, but we're taking a nice dinner trip somewhere fancy to celebrate.