Lucky.

Philip closed his empty wallet and slid it back inside his suit pocket, his wife was going to kill him and he hated the thought of going home to her. He knew she would be upset, losing the house was one thing, but going back on his promise he'd given her was another thing entirely.
He couldn’t understand what had gone wrong, his gut had told him that Red 23 was going to win, and it never usually let him down, but tonight it had. Tonight it had led him so close to the edge that when he fell it had stopped to watch. 750,000 dollars, his car, his mortgage, damn even the shoes he would walk dejectedly home in didn’t belong to him.
In the last five years of coming to the casino, he had broken even across the board, almost as though fate wanted him to bet but never win. He had lost thousands before, every day for a week sometimes, but then his luck would change and he would win it all back plus a little. Those times his wife was pleased to see him, when he brought in the jewellery or the holidays. She knew it would go wrong one day, that one day he would go too far, one day he would reach beyond his level and the world would crash around him.
He’d been to therapy, to gamblers anonymous, but the thrill of playing had always drawn him back. His sponsor would not be happy; his mother-in-law would certainly go to town on him for the stress he caused her daughter. He just didn’t understand how everything tonight had gone so badly.
It was at this point that the fruit machine next to him gave a gurgle sound and spat a dollar onto the floor at his feet, his fingers started to tingle as they always did before a big payout, his sixth sense working on overdrive as it detected the ripples in the world around him and he smiled as he bent down to pick it up.
Fate didn’t throw money at you unless it had a plan, and he was certain that fate loved him. The Five Million Dollar fruit machine was so ready to drop, it had given him a chance, a chance to change it all round, to finally go home the hero.
He would give up gambling, living on the yacht in the south pacific with June would be the cure, no longer worried about the next pay cheque. She could give up the job at `Taco Bell` and finally live the life he had always wanted to give her.
The house paid off, his mother-in-laws property too, just to show he cared. He could buy a Ferrari, he could finally get rid of the beat up ford he had driver for these past seven years and cruise in comfort.
He rolled the dollar in between his fingers as he let his senses role. His hands had never tingled so much before in his life, he guessed, No, he knew the machine was about to pay out, the next person to play would be the winner. And with his fated dollar he would be that man.
He kissed it reverently on both sides and slid the money into the slot. Pressing the button he waited for the machine to start, for the tumblers to dance their merry dance and deliver his fortune to him. He pressed it again after a second, then a third time. The machine was ready, his money was so close but the thing would not budge, a voice from behind him made him turn.
“It’s Two Dollars a go, chump. Move aside and let someone else have a go.”