Are You Feeling Lucky?
Dec 10th, 2006 by Don Ray
The Panama Lottery draws an amazing number of participants. You will see Lotto vendors parked at most high traffic areas. I have yet to buy a ticket. That is probably the reason why I haven’t won anything. Or at least it is a contributing factor.
I took this photo at Romeros in Dolegita in David. It is intelligently positioned just outside an ATM. While I was there a gent came out of the ATM with his $20 withdrawal and bought 20 tickets. You can buy tickets with 2, 4 or five numbers, On Wednesday and Sunday the lotto balls fly and you will see people at all of the restaurants with their eyes glued to the screen to see if they picked the right numbers.
The same vendors are always at the same locations day in and day out. I don’t know how thy handle it. Some come with their radios and food and drink coolers and for them I think it is a real social event. You will see many people stop, buy their tickets and than spend several more minutes visiting.
Maybe I will buy a ticket one of these days when I am feeling lucky.
Its exactly the same way in Costa Rica, locals on every corner hocking lottery tickets. People of ALL ethnic backgrounds love to Gamble. I can’t wait to check out the Panama Casinos!
I am sure they can’t wait to have you check them out too.
I won some cash on the one armed bandits, at the World Famous “Del Rey” in San Jose Costa Rica, you ever heard of it? But the two legged slots ended up with it ALL! ha ha ha, great atmosphere, very historic building, well maintained, first class operation!
Hmmmm, wondering which was the first class operation.
We had very good luck at the casinos in Central America. On our way to Panama, we had a brief layover on the Tica Bus in San Jose, CR. So, we went to the casino near the bus station. My husband won $1,000 on a slot machine. At first, we had no idea how much he had won because we thought he was playing a penny slot machine. We left the casino that night and when we entered Panama, we spent the night in a really nice condo in Boquete with our winnings.
We also tried our luck in 3 casinos in David. The casino in the Grand Hotel wasn’t that rewarding, but we did come out ahead by a few dollars. The other casino across the street from the big grocery store was fun. I played the nickel machines and broke even.Near the center of town, we went into the casino where all of the locals must play. It was very crowded, and we decided not to try our luck there.
Pharroahs, in Managua(Nicaragua) was the luckiest place. We won over $2,000 on the dollar machines in the back of the casino. In the little casino in Masaya, Nicaragua I won $200 on the penny slot machine. It was enough to buy presents at the Masaya market. In Granada, we only frequented the casinos to cool off because they had air-conditioning.
We both admit that we love gambling…but we know our limits. We only take a pre-determined amount of money with us into the casinos and never take our ATM cards. My system is to start on the penny machines, pocket my winnings, and move up to the nickel machines, pocket half of my winnings, then, move up to the quarter machines…and so on. I usually break even, seldom lose all of my money, and sometimes hit a jackpot. We also set a time limit for how long we will stay.
The best thing about Central American casinos is the air-conditioning.
The lottery doesn’t seem as appealing to me and I probably won’t play because I really like the hands- on, refreshingly cool aspects of the casinos.
Hi Debbie,
Some people are just lucky. You must be among them. The slots can be addictive. I agree also with it being nice to get in out of the heat.
I am one of the guys who was at Panama Maritime trainning service last time you went there with Dario. I was a teacher, but I think you thought I was a student. the fact is that I need you to go to UNACHI (the University) because we are going to be delivering some speeches and we were asked to take an american but I do not know any american but you! Please call to my cell, so I can let you know the details.
my cell is 6473-68-78.
You are supposed to be there at 2:00 pm. It will begin at 2:00 up to 4:00. It will take place in the auditorioum. I have tried to call to your cell but it seems to be off.
please help me with this because I really need to take someone!
Yes, MoviStar was dead for most of yesterday. I will give you a call after 8:00.