Recreation: God Save the Ace

Outside, there was a chilly London night. Inside a Georgia accent interrupted the click of chips and slap of cards. "Hey, Doc, you got a winning pill?" Doc looked back across the table. His reply was short and savage: "I'd be taking it myself." Then Doc turned back to the blackjack table. He lost $240 in the next four minutes.

Doc and his friend were two of 178 Americans who arrived in London last week from Atlanta on a gambling junket. They had come partly because they had never been to London and partly because, after Las Vegas, London has become...

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