I live in Los Angeles, California, so Las Vegas is close enough that going there has always felt like something I should have done by now.
I finally made my first trip to Vegas, and obviously one of the things I wanted to experience was the gambling.
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I decided before I went that I was going to take $100 with me and that was it.
Not $100 to start with and then another $100 if I lost it.
Not $100 with the option of going to an ATM.
Just $100.
I knew exactly how much I was prepared to lose
I'm not going to pretend I went to Las Vegas expecting to come home with a suitcase full of cash.
I knew there was every chance I'd lose the $100, and I was completely comfortable with that before I started playing.
That was the important part for me.
The $100 was money I'd already decided I could afford to lose, so once it was gone, it was gone.
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And I lost the entire $100
As it turned out, I didn't get lucky.
I lost the whole $100.
And honestly, I wasn't particularly bothered.
Obviously, winning would have been much nicer, but I had already made the decision that $100 was my limit.
Once I'd lost it, I didn't take another $100 out.
I didn't chase the loss.
I didn't convince myself that I was "due" a win or that another trip to the ATM might change things.
I simply stopped.
The part I'm actually proud of
For me, the interesting thing about my first Vegas experience wasn't whether I won or lost.
It was that I actually stuck to the rule I'd made for myself before I arrived.
It's incredibly easy to imagine yourself walking away when you're thinking about gambling beforehand.
But when you're actually sitting at a casino table or machine and you've just lost money, it can feel very different.
There's always another bet available.
That's why deciding your limit before you start made such a difference for me.
I got my Vegas experience for $100
Looking back, I don't really see the $100 as money I "lost" in the same way I would if I'd spent it on something I didn't enjoy.
I went to Las Vegas for the first time, experienced the casino atmosphere and had a story to take home.
The gambling cost me $100.
And that was the end of it.
I'm not suggesting everyone should gamble, and losing money obviously isn't something to celebrate.
But if you are going to gamble, my first Vegas trip showed me why deciding what you're prepared to lose before you start is so important.
For me, the biggest win of the night wasn't winning money.
It was losing the $100 and knowing I wasn't going to spend another cent trying to get it back.
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