Chapter 143 - 144 The Flamingo Hopeless Situation

Words : 1061 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Chapter 143: Chapter 144 The Flamingo Hopeless Situation But at around 10 p.m. a huge flash of lightning streaked across the sky. Amid the rolling thunder, the casino hall suddenly went dark. There was a power outage. "Ah~~!" Screams from women echoed in the casino hall. Nobody knew what had happened. The staff quickly brought flashlights, providing a temporary glimmer of light in the hall, but people were starting to get impatient. Sigel was anxious and shouted, "Send someone to check immediately to see what’s wrong, hurry!" The staff braved the rain to check and they found that the transformer had malfunctioned. Sigel urgently arranged for repairs and had candles lit in the casino for lighting. With only candles, it was impossible to continue playing. Some guests, growing impatient, left the casino and returned to their hotel rooms. It was winter, with temperatures around four or five degrees Celsius, and with the rain and no air conditioning, the rooms felt cold and damp. After more than three hours of effort, power was finally restored, but most of the guests had already left. The first day’s opening ended hastily. In the lounge, Sigel sat alone drinking sullenly. Everything had gone wrong today, it was a complete disaster. A rare torrential rain. The VIPs didn’t come. Only half of the guests arrived. The party couldn’t be held, and the fireworks show was canceled. A hasty ribbon cutting, a power outage, and in the end, all the guests left. Nothing could have gone worse than this. Sigel’s woman, Virginia, walked over and gently stroked his shoulder. "It will get better, don’t worry." Sigel exhaled lightly and said firmly, "Yes, it will get better. When the weather clears up tomorrow, the guests will come. Business will pick up, and everything will get on track." He was Benjamin Sigel. The underground king of the West Coast. Such difficulties couldn’t defeat him. The next day. It was Christmas. The guests woke up in a cheerful mood, ready to enjoy the festivities they missed yesterday. Today, the weather in Las Vegas was nice, with blue skies and white clouds. By noon, guests started arriving again, and the casino became lively. Hardy and Ava also played for a while. Hardy wasn’t very interested in gambling. He had read a report by a scholar stating that when people gamble, their brains release a large amount of dopamine, which makes them feel happy. But this happiness turns into negative emotions after gambling, leading them to gamble again to regain that happiness, which is the essence of addiction. But Hardy didn’t feel this way when he gambled, it wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as closing a business deal or spending time with a woman. But then, something went wrong in the casino again. People began to notice that the temperature in the hall was getting very cold. The casino staff found out that the central air conditioning had broken down. It was winter, with daytime temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius and nighttime temperatures around 1 degree Celsius. Without air conditioning, the hall became very cold, making the guests uncomfortable. Sigel, upon hearing the report, became frantic. "Damn it, wasn’t everything checked before? Why is there a problem now? Get someone to fix it immediately." After several hours of urgent repairs, the air conditioning was finally restored, but many guests had already left, feeling very disappointed with their Christmas gambling trip to Las Vegas. It was not enjoyment but rather a torment. People like Meyer and the Warner Brothers, who had come to support them, couldn’t stay forever and left the next day. On the third day. There were only a little over a hundred guests in the casino, even fewer than the number of staff. The large casino seemed empty. According to Sigel’s plan, the hotel had over 300 rooms, and the casino could accommodate more than a thousand guests daily. But now, they didn’t even have a fraction of that. Moreover, there was only gambling as an entertainment option here, with no other attractions. Except for those obsessed with gambling, people would leave after playing for a day or two. It was hard to retain guests. Hardy saw the problems with the casino and approached Sigel. "Mr. Sigel, why not advertise in the newspapers? That might attract some tourists," Hardy suggested. "I’ve already advertised. That can only attract a few gamblers. The biggest problem now is that the other facilities here are not complete. The Flamingo has no unique attractions compared to other casinos, so it can’t retain guests," Sigel said in frustration. His original idea was to make this place a tourist destination to attract a large number of guests, which would, in turn, bring in more gamblers. But without attractive features, relying solely on gambling made it no different from other casinos, only drawing in true gamblers. And the number of true gamblers is limited. Yesterday, he had the accountant do the math and found that not only had they not made money in the past few days, but they had also lost quite a bit. And with only about a hundred guests daily, the casino would continue to lose money. Running a business costs money. The casino’s staff, security, dealers, and managers added up to over a hundred people, and their salaries were a significant expense. As for the Flamingo’s current situation, Hardy had no solutions. The current state is due to Sigel’s stubbornness, pressure from the other Mafia families, and fate’s tricks. fate wasn’t letting him have an easy time with one accident after another. How could such a business make money? "Mr. Sigel, I have many things to attend to in Los Angeles. I’ll be leaving today," Hardy also said goodbye. Sigel nodded. "Go ahead. I’ll figure something out here. If things don’t improve after a while, I’ll close it down. Tommy and the others will give up. Once this place is fully built according to my plan, it will surely attract many guests," Sigel remained steadfast in his ideas. He was a strong man, and he believed that failure was only momentary. The convoy returned to Los Angeles, and Hardy dropped Ava off at home. "I have to go to New York for a few days, I’ll be back soon," Hardy said. "Go ahead," Ava said, understanding Hardy’s many business ventures in New York.

Chapter 143 - 144 The Flamingo Hopeless Situation

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