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The Puzzler

Lost Wages in Vegas

RAY: This is from my Lost Wages series and it was sent in by Katherine Curtis. She writes, 'A man is visiting Las Vegas, known for gambling casinos and the like, and he falls for the local hype and heads for a casino with hopes of hitting it big.
He goes into this unusual casino that charges a dollar to enter, as well as a dollar to leave. He pays his dollar, plays the slot machines, loses half his money and in disgust pays his one dollar and leaves.

'The following day he knows he'll do better. He takes the money he has left and heads out to the same casino. He pays his buck, but just like before, he again loses half his money, and pays another dollar to leave.

'On the third day he figures he'll give it one more shot but his money is dwindling fast. The same thing happens. After paying his one dollar entrance, he loses half his money, and then pays his last dollar to get out. He's flat broke when he leaves.'

So the question very simply is, how much money did he start with?

Think you know? Drop Ray a note!

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