The first time Scotty Nguyen gazed upon the bright lights of Las Vegas, he was 20 years old and practically broke. Having made the monumental decision to spend a weekend gambling in Vegas, Nguyen and several friends drove east from the southern California suburb of Orange County. They negotiated their way through the desert and stopped at a place called Whiskey Pete’s. It was a roadside casino of modest proportions, but the boys felt certain that they had landed upon the mouth of Sin City.

Nguyen and his pals went inside, each of them holding a bankroll of 600 or so dollars.