Note: This is the original (read: unedited) version of my column that appears in this Saturday's print editions of Daily Racing Form.

By DAVE TULEY

   Saturday, July 7, 2007
   The date doesn’t look like anything special. But when you write it out as 7-7-07, it seems to take on a mystical quality. Here in Las Vegas, it’s hard to avoid all the hype as advertisements are everywhere for the “luckiest day of the year” or the “luckiest day of the century.”
   The daily newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, even put out a special section on Thursday to mark the occasion (and reap the advertising dollars, of course).  All types of industries are trying to cash in on a day that will have Vegas filled to capacity with people trying to be in the gambling capital of the world on such a lucky day.  Restaurants and nightclubs are advertising heavily with special $7.77 meals and $7 cover charges. The city’s wedding chapels are close to being fully booked and lines are expected to be long at the Marriage License Bureau, where is costs just $55 for a Nevada wedding license and no blood test is required, as lucky couples try to beat the high divorce odds in this country.
   But it’s the casinos that are really trying to lure the masses. Many are shortening the date to 7-7-7 so it looks like a winning slot machine. Some places are even having cash drawings, including $77,777 at every Station and Fiesta casino, $77,000 at the Suncoast, $777 at the Sahara, and $10,000 at the Rampart (OK, someone didn’t the memo).
   Since I was in my formative (pre-gambling age) years on 7-7-1977 and am a big longshot to make this century’s 7-7-77, it would appear this is the luckiest day in my lifetime.
   But I have my doubts.
   For one thing, it's more than a little ironic that the casinos are going out of their way to bring in customers on this so-called "lucky day." If it was so lucky, you would think the casinos would be locking their doors until midnight. But with all the players feeling lucky and probably betting more than they should just because of a coincidence of the calendar, it's more than likely that the casinos will be the lucky ones.
   It's almost like a rabbt being led to slaughter. At some point in the past, someone decided rabbit's feet were lucky. But they certainly didn't turn out so lucky for the rabbits.