THE GOOD LUCK DUCK LADY

I was so enamored with the idea someone else at another casino was giving out Good Luck Ducks!! In today's world filled with so much negativity, it is nice to know that a little duck can bring a smile to someone's day. Please join us on this episode of Reel Slot Talk as we host our very special first guest ever, Kathy, the good luck duck lady.

Good luck Duck, "If you bring the duck, you bring the luck"

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning. It's June the 22nd, straight from the High Lake Cabinet Studio. This is Real Slot Talk with yours truly, Willie B. And today we've got a special guest. It's the first time that I've actually done a guest on any of my shows. And I am really excited because I found out there was a lady that goes to Cherokee Casino and she hands out good luck ducks. And I thought, we have to have her on the show. I have to break all my rules and have a guest on the show. And I thoroughly enjoyed having her here. And we I I hope you enjoy this conversation that we had just as much as I did. But she is also known as the good luck duck lady. And I I just cannot wait for you to hear her story and share some of her stories about giving out the good luck ducks and what it means to her. So with none other ado, here is Kathy and welcome to Real Slot Talk. But I I just thought this was a great opportunity to talk about, you know, uh your story behind the good luck ducks. Um and and I'll I'll share my story with you as well. Um, if you want to just tell me a little bit about, you know, your visits to casino and how the whole duck thing started and and a little background on that.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Well, I've been going to the casinos probably for about 20 years now, um, all the way up to West Virginia, Mountaineer, West Virginia. Have you heard of that?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I have.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

You have okay. Uh Hollywood in Austin Town, Ohio. Okay. I've been to Columbus, Ohio Casino and uh Beau Revage and Alexi.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Uh-huh. I like Bo Revage.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

And you know, I absolutely love it there. It's fun, it's clean, it's just exciting, vibrant, just electric, you know. So um, anyway, I've been going, I'm gonna go like maybe three to four times a year. And um my daughter-in-law, she works at a high school, and she wanted to sell some little pink ducks, you know, just to make money, to raise money, you know, for the kids and for projects and addings and stuff. And they wouldn't let her use sell the ducks that that would be a distraction, the little one that she ducked. But that's okay. So she had some, had a bunch, and I said, Do you mind? Can I have some to take to the casino? She's like, sure. So she gave me, I think it was like 37 of them, which random number. And um, so we just I took them and just started giving them out. And I'm like, wow, it's amazing how something so tiny and rubbery and cute as can be can make people so happy and make them smile and just bring you together. It's pretty cool. So here we are now. Willie B hunted me down. And I'm like, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Um so did did you not did you not expect people to respond the way you that you thought that they would?

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Well, you never know because when you approach people, some people, you know, you know yourself. You sit in a slot machine, you know, either that person's in their zone, you don't talk to them, you don't even look at them, don't look at their bonuses, or you hey how you doing? Good luck. And uh amazingly enough, 99.9% of the people, man, they love them. You know, you think you're giving them a hundred dollar bill or something.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I'm I'm well aware, yep.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

And uh so how many ducks have you given away?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Um our initial batch because we just started this about a couple of months ago. Uh, as a matter of fact, I've got uh a t-shirt that uh we put on the website. Um I started doing t-shirts just to promote because I do some t-shirts to promote my different podcasts and things that I do, and so I guess we've probably given out probably around 300 ducks, and it all started. I'll tell you how mine started. So last October, our casino put out this uh contest for Halloween to dress up. Well, I used to have my own coffee company and I did a character called Dr. Caffeine. Again, I'm not bashful, so I thought I'm gonna go to the casino dressed as Dr. Caffeine. Well, you know, because some people are just fuddy duddies and they didn't want to dress up, so there were very few of us dressed up, and I was like, I don't care. I stayed in character all night, didn't bother me, but I got a lot of attention about being Dr. Caffeine. I'm in a lab coat, I have this huge white straight hair. I mean, it's it's a sight to behold. And so one of the slot attendants, I said, I guess they're decided not to do the handout of the prizes for he goes, he said, I think it died before it ever started. So a little bit later, he comes by and he drops this little resin duck on my slot machine. He goes, That's for good luck. I said, Oh, good luck, duck. I said, Okay, got and I it made me just feel special because he, as a slot attendant, he recognized that hey, I dressed up, I played the game, and so that was really cool. And so I thought, you know, that little duck, that little bitty tiny resin duck brought me so much joy that night, and I carried it with me every trip to the casino. And so I thought, you know what? I'm gonna get some of these ducks, and I'm gonna do that. And so we about a month later, we started doing it, and people just I've I've started out. If people were having bad luck, I'm like, you know what you need? And I've grabbed my bag, I said, What color do you want? Oh, that's so cool. And this little big tiny duck the size of a pencil eraser, and I put it on their machine. I'm like, now I can't say that it actually does bring bring good luck, but I had my t-shirt on, and it says, If you bring the duck, you bring the luck. And so I would turn around and show them the t-shirt. They're like, Oh, this is so cool, and so it just and then so I hand them out to servers, I hand them out to bartenders, slot attendants, you know, people at the guest relations, the the um what do you call the uh the rewards desk? They know, I mean, everybody in that works in the casino, they know me when I walk in the door, and they're like, There, there's a duck man. I'm like, okay, so you know, I own it, but it's cool. It's um it's created this community, and that's kind of what you've done. You created this community. I've looked at your Facebook post and that you did in Cherokee's uh Facebook page, and it creates this so it becomes where it's not it's not about wins or losses, it's not about just playing slot machines, it's about creating this just human kindness touch in the casino that, like you said, sometimes we lose because you get some people they get in a zone that's like don't touch them, don't watch them, don't stand behind them, don't like I'm the absolute opposite. And people, my wife says, People love to watch you play because I am so animated. I I can get a five-dollar bonus, and I you would think I won a million, and I I'm not loud, I just I'm just very animated, and so people get you know they get a kick, and of course, some people don't. You can see some people there like what's wrong with you, but you know what? Here's your good luck, Duck. It'll it'll help your persona, and so that's that's the thing, and so it's it's it's amazing to to just see the smile you get from handing them just this, you know, this little duck, you know, and um, so it's become a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Wait till you start giving out the bigger ducks.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

I've I've had people bring me ducks like that. I've got one, I should have brought them up. They're they're downstairs, but um, I had one lady because she knew I like to play the pirate uh Dragon Link game, so she brought me a pirate duck. Uh another slide attendant gave me a monster duck. Uh so uh people have started bringing me ducks, you know, and uh so it's just it's been really cool. Uh but when I I saw that you were doing that, uh, because Steven had sent me your a picture of hey, this lady's giving out ducks, and I'm like, that's really cool. And I don't know what he really, I don't know if he thought that we were copying one another or what he thought. He was just like, Hey, do you I said I said, No, no, the more the better. I said, Because I it would be nice to see somebody in every and I have seen people in different what's with the ducks in the casino. They why didn't y'all stay to the cruise ship? You know, uh, why are you taking ducks away from the Jeep people? And I'm like, okay, let's think about this. Number one, people that have the ducks in their Jeeps, they there's no community there, they just got them in that's their own personal space, it's their own, you know, cruise ships. They hide the ducks for people to find. Where what you and I are doing, we're approaching another human going, Hey, it looks like you could use a good luck duck, you know, and we get a smile. So it's the human interaction. So, what to me, what we're doing is totally different. So, what is your your favorite slot to play?

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Well, unfortunately, they've taken my older ones out. I like Mayan Chief, great stacks, but they've taken them out. What what machine was that?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

My and chief. Oh, my and chief. I had forgotten about that one.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Oh man, you get those blue doors, they'd shut, you know, and you're like, oh, you get them gold coins. I mean, I was actually, I mean, get pretty good on them, you know, on low because I'm a low better. Are you a low better? Obviously, if you get excited on five dollar bonus, though.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

I I am. I it it doesn't take uh my wife, she'll venture off and bet a little bit bigger, but for me, I I've I just enjoy playing the game and I I want to see the bonuses. I just want to I just want to play. And that sometimes for me, uh, and I'd like to hear your take on this. People now think that or they feel that casinos are getting tighter. Uh, and which, you know, if you look at the economy, I mean, everything's getting we're not getting as much for our dollar for anything that we go and buy. And right slot playing is entertainment slash therapy. So, but it is a that is my wife and I both. We can have a really bad day at work, or we can have something going on, and it's like, you know what? Let's let's go play. And so we go to the casino and play, and whatever was, I don't care how heavy it was, for that hour, two hours that you're in the casino, it's just like agree. You don't even think about it.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah, do you play the uh flaming pots?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

I I'm trying to get into that game. It I just can't stay engaged. I like to play Huffin' Puff, and those pigs hate me. They literally they you know, I I don't know what it is, but those pigs just do not like me. Um they don't like me either. Yeah, that's what everybody says, but it it is a highly volatile game. But they just came out with and I just did a game review on them of their new Huff and Puff Link. I I I've I'm a big Dragon Link player, one of the most volatile machines now. I do miss the old school three reel, and we have some at Danville, but I don't know what they've done to the settings. But I've been over there several times and played them, and I'm like, this is not typical three real machines. It's like right, y'all done something to these machines, they you got them on vacuum mode. So unfortunately, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Um yeah, uh I think it's economy, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

I think I think a lot of it is. Um, you know, you talk about Forteta just now buying out Caesars, so we'll see what changes are made after that. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

And it's not about winning for me, it's about having fun and and just the excitement, the people, the music.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

The possibility. Yep, that we play for we play for the possibility.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Yeah, yeah, and that's good enough for me, you know. I mean, nobody makes me put my money in it. I do it because I enjoy it, right? And you want to meet wonderful, wonderful people.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah, that's my thing. And you can kind of read people. I think you're kind of like I am, where you can kind of read people, but somebody that you know you can strike up a conversation with, and you know, we and we share in the loss, so all of a sudden that loss doesn't sting as much. And one of my and I I would love to hear one of your stories. One of my favorite stories is it happened a few weeks ago. There was a lady playing to my right, and we were playing Buffalo Link, my other favorite nemesis game, but I love to play it. And she's and I don't think she had played slots very much before. And she goes, How are you getting bonuses? Is there something that I'm not doing correctly? And I said, No, ma'am, unfortunately, it's just about hitting a button. And uh, and I said, But you know what I think you need, and I pulled out my bag and I said, What color would you like? And she goes, Oh, how cool. So she picked her color and I put it on her machine. And the second spin, she hit a bonus and she looked at that duck and she looked at me and she goes, That really worked. I said, I can't say that it does, I can't say that it doesn't. I just you know, but it's it's become a an icon for for my uh and this is kind of what I'm doing. I'm building this whole thing to give me something to keep me occupied during retirement. Uh, because like I said, I I work a full-time job, I work 18 15 days a month, and it's 12 hour shifts. So oh wow, yeah. So, and then do all this on top of it, it's it's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Um, yeah, it sounds like it.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Uh I I spend all my days off in front of the computer, uh, either editing or uploading as it's you know, but you know, I I enjoy it and I enjoy my podcast a lot. And the podcasts for me are something that are almost like playing slots. When I turn that mic on, it's just me and the mic. It's just like the world just disappears, and so I I really love that part of it. So, but I had the I would love to hear your favorite story of giving somebody a a duck.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Well, let's see here. It was last year, I believe, and a lady I'd say in her 30s, she was at a slot machine and she didn't really know what she was doing, you know. And and I just did a little brief rundown. This is how you do it, and I said, Here's just some lucky duck. Here's a lucky duck. And she just got all excited. She took the little duck and she started pounding it on the machine, not pounding, but putting it up there, you know. And honey, she got a bonus after bonus after bonus, and she just walked a down that it was because of that lucky duck, you know. And I just I just I chuckled. I said, you know, I'm glad I'm glad it brought you luck, you know. And uh she even actually because I took a picture, I asked, would you would you mind if I took a picture of you and posted it? She said no, that's fine, you know, and uh and she did. I mean, it was um she was so happy and so thrilled. I mean, she won like over eight hundred dollars. Wow, you know, yeah. I mean, she just kept she was just on a hot machine, let's face it. But right. The lucky duck, man, it speaks volume.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

And I and I applaud you, I applaud you for doing the picture. So I one of my questions I'd like to ask is so because I I I have my own thought process on this, and I and because we're of the same mindset, why do you think something as simple as these little ducks bring so much big impact and joy to people?

SPEAKER_02 17:07

I think because of the way our society and our world has become that a simple little duck takes their little mind off. Wow, our mindset makes their mind feel like wow, there's really nice people out here. There's still nice people out here, you know. Um I don't know, I just get the biggest thrill and the pleasure and the it makes my heart happy. That's that's me.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

I'm not sure who's getting the the bigger uh you know blessing out of it, if it's them getting a duck or if it's me, you know, seeing that it made them happy. But it's you're right.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Well, we don't know if you understand that because like you said on Facebook, somebody'll say, Well, you know, why are you doing that? You know, da-da-da-da-da, you know, they'll kind of be a little negative, you know, but I just say, Hey, it's to make them happy and smile.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

So I I did have my my one last question that um that I would like to ask you. And if if if you could place one good luck duck in the hand of anyone in the world right now, who would it be and why?

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Okay, it's gonna be my mother, which is in heaven. And when she was alive, they didn't have um lottery tickets in Georgia. And she says she never got to scratch a lottery ticket or go to a casino. But she used to take us to bingo when we were little, you know. So I think that's who I would get my lucky deck to.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Excuse me, that's ironic because mine was the same because my mom's in heaven, and she did like to go to the casino. She was the one that first took me to go play my first slot machine, and I'll never forget it. We went to uh it was in Louisiana, and it was um oh, I cannot remember the name of that uh casino save my life now, but uh she gave me a hundred dollars and showed me how to play, and I I just thought to myself, after about two spins and it took ten dollars away. I'm like, I don't I don't like this. This is not this is not fun. I'll just take my 90 and go home. She said, No, no, I want you to play that. So I found out real quick how to play lesser bets, and uh that was back when we had the buckets of quarters that you had to carry around the casino.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

I left the print out tickets.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

That was the job carrying those things around, and now you just got the tickets, and it's it's a whole different world now. But um, but it's nothing like hearing all them jingles going down, all them cling cling cling cling, you know what I'm saying? It it it was a it was a nice sound when you hit a jackpot, but you know but they know they do it on the machine and have all the coins going down, the coin showers and the you know, yep.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

The coin showers, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

You know, so but I really you know thank you for reaching out to me.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

That was fun, and um if someone listened to this podcast and they wanted to spread a little kindness in their own community, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Go for it, don't be afraid, step out of your little box, that's right, make somebody smile because you never know what that person is going through. You know, you don't know health problems, family problems, you don't know. And if you could take that little bit away from them and let them focus on a silly little duck for a few minutes, yep. Don't be afraid, you know. Make somebody smile today. That's what I would say.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

And there you have it from the good luck duck lady herself, make somebody smile today. What a special episode this has been. I hope everybody enjoyed this. I definitely enjoyed having Kathy on the show. And remember, you know, the little small duck, you know, we say bring the duck, you bring the luck, but you know, whether it brings to luck or not, it definitely brings a smile. It's definitely something to build a community around. I hope you enjoyed this show. Next week, back to some more game reviews and so much more in store. So don't forget to tune in next week to catch your next episode of Real Slot Talk with yours truly, Willie B. And I'll see you in line at the ATM. I guarantee it. Have a great day, and thank you for listening.