Many a slot player has dreamed of winning a huge progressive jackpot only to go broke chasing the elusive prize. Endless hours spent pumping quarters and pulling handles on the ‘one armed bandits' only to watch the reels come up one-Double Diamond, two-Double Diamond and then the third reel stops just shy of the last Double Diamond representing the gateway to untold riches! Oh the heartache! So very, very close; all that money dropped in the wrong machine and all that time spent fueling the jackpot for some other lucky stiff.

The sad fact is that no slot system (which can make serious money for those who write, publish and sell their pixie dust to the players) can beat the Random Number Generator, which has been designed to defy logic. It is interesting to watch hard-core slot players as they practice their various rituals in an attempt to conjure up the big jackpot through new age mysticism or mind sapping attempts at psychokinetic intervention. Nonetheless they play on and dream of that moment when the lights flash, the chimes play, the 6 foot check is presented as cameras record their triumph and they become the envy of everyone in the casino.

The Mohegan Indian Tribe recently hit a $54,000,000 progressive jackpot. The tribal leaders were more than just lucky, it seems that they knew exactly which machine would pay off when they dropped their money in the slot. This good fortune was not the result of a spiritual vision quest or any other Hollywood cliché that may spring to mind, this lucky break was the result of an ancient practice shared among a small but powerful group of leaders. The New York Post writes that.

The feds awarded a staggering $54 million to Connecticut's politically-connected Mohegan Indian tribe, which runs one of the highest grossing casinos in the country, according to a new bombshell report.

The tribe, which operates the Mohegan Sun casino, earned more than $1.3 billion in gross revenues in 2009.

But that didn't stop Sen, Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) helping the tribe secure the funds...