I am a retired woman, and I consider myself lucky as I ended up with a good retirement that allows me a few extra pleasures in life. Maybe part of my luck was the fact that I worked hard for 30 years and raised 3 successful children (which means once they grew up, I stopped paying their way!). My husband died about 10 years ago and that was when I decided to retire and stop working.

For over 5 years, Slotland has been one of my little pleasures that I have been lucky to find and play. I always liked gambling and years ago I would go once in a while to a real casino, so when I found Slotland online, I finally got to enjoy gambling again.

I happened to mention Slotland to a friend of mine and she insisted that the real casinos were more fun, in fact even better than before. She convinced me to take a quick overnight trip with her to the nearest casino to play 'the real thing' as she described it.

Maybe I am just getting too old, but within 30 minutes of getting inside the casino, I felt like I was getting a headache with all the noise and music blasting around me. I have to admit that I never thought much about it before, but it really is nice to play at Slotland because, in addition to the excitement and great winning streaks, I can control how loud and smoky (no smoke at all!) it is when I play!

I love the poker games at Slotland (Jacks or Better, Wild Heart and Striking Sevens) so of course I went to the poker machines at the casino and before I knew it, I was down $50. I was betting the same range I usually bet at Slotland ($5 a hand) and the machine seemed like an absolute vacuum cleaner! I switched to another poker machine and pretty much the same thing happened. I never even saw anything better than 3 of a kind in all my deals and I was beginning to regret my decision to play 'the real thing'.

My friend meanwhile was winning in my eyes, because she was only down $10 after a couple of hours of play. I went to our hotel room to relax and get some quiet and clean air, and slept for a bit. A couple of hours later my friend came back, having also lost $100 (at least she had more play time).

We ended up having a nice dinner, watching a movie in our room and heading back home the next day. After I settled, I thought more and more about how Slotland just seemed looser when it came to their poker games. I had to see for myself, so I logged in and deposited $200 and went straight to Jacks or Better. My first deal had me smiling when I was dealt a full house in the first round! I had started as usual, at $5 a bet, but to me, this first win was a good sign, and I upped my bet to $10 and continued.

In the next five hands, I ended up with a straight, 3 of a kind (twice), a dead hand, and a beautiful four of a kind. All at $10 a deal, so I was sitting with over $500 in my account, with some nice music in the background, and my drink on the desk, and breathing smoke-free air, all within the same time that the 'real thing' machine vacuumed up my first $50! Who wouldn't be happy?

It did take longer to win the biggest jackpot in my life than it did to lose my $100 at a 'real' casino, but I honestly lost track of time with the best winning streak I ever had at Slotland. By the time I was dealt out the ultimate hand (I got the Ace, Queen, Jack and 10 of Spades and pulled up the King of Spades), I was almost at $1,300, so in addition to winning over $175,000, I ended up with over $177,000.

Since I owe less than $30,000 on my house, after paying that off, I am taking a grand vacation all the way to Japan by route of Hawaii. My oldest granddaughter just graduated from high school and hasn't yet found a job (but I know she will!), so I am taking her along for the trip of both of our lives!

And don't tell anyone yet, but each of my 7 grandchildren (aged 10 to 23) will get wallets this Christmas: each one filled with ten $100 bills!

I love Slotland and have to admit that no one could ever convince me to go to a 'real' casino again. Give me the 'fake' thing and all that money any day!