Bend Over and Take it. A Father's Day Report 2025

I am going to be honest upfront. I totally half assed this Trip Report. I wasn't planning on writing one, even though I have done a Father's Day gambling report in the past. Those seem to get the fewest views on my crappy site. But this trip. I kept winning, and winning and winning some more. I am retroactively cobbling this all together. As the tale must be told!

I have never, ever, ever got my ass handed to me at Four Winds in South Bend Indiana before. Its one of the few places I can constantly book a win at. Their casino is pretty damn fair. I have covered it before. But these Injuns only turn over 10% of their gambling revenue to the state. Which is a fraction other casinos in the Midwest have to. Most are about 40% given back to the state. And even that 10% here is done by their own free will. So they can afford to not crank up the slot holds and fuck you. Like the other casinos do. As they keep a bigger slice of pie. 

So lets get day 1 started, with the picture I stole off their website, since I didn't take my own!

Normally it takes about 90 minutes to get here from the house. But being early evening on a Friday. It took over 2 hours. And with them being in a different time zone, I lost an hour on top of that. We don't swing in, until after 6PM.

Check in was a breeze. The suite was ready, and we all just dropped our bags and headed down to the buffet. Which as always is good, not great, but free.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the lobby, the room and the buffet I didn't take. Cause, half ass and all. But I did take a picture of how much free play I had. I caught them just right. Extra free play and a "We miss you" offer". Free room, free food and free $625? Yeah, I'll book that! Get ready South Bend, to Bend over and take it again from me!

4W SB has a great casino layout. Walking in from the hotel, the casino is along your left. And most everything else, shops, dining and what not. Is to your right. With the exception of Timbers, their casual dining joint. And the buffet. Those are both smack dab in the middle of the casino. 

We all eat our fill at the buffet, I pat the kids on their heads. Kiss the wife. And they scamper back up to the room, while I dig in to some slots...

Video Poker is pretty much grouped in one section in the back corner. So I save my free play until I can get to that. But it turns out, I didn't need to convert their $600. I did so myself on Cash Crop, with a $527 bonus right out the gate!

I game on, and lose a little before hitting $120 on the below. Still up almost $600 here. Which I played down this TITO, and cash out $500 up. 

I was holding my own on Top Dollar in High Limit. Before landing a line hit for $160. Now I have more money. 

And found myself way too deep in to this chunk of shit below, before finally get a $165 hit. But I was down almost $250 on it, until that happened. 

But this is South Bend. And there is money to be had everywhere. Just like this $384 bonus! I just tucked that money in with the rest. And add to my pile of cash. Which by now, has grown to almost $1,000 up. And I just got here! Why do people in Indiana even have jobs? They could just play the slots for a living. 

I finally flip my free play on video poker. And turn their $625, in to my $555. Which got me around for a good half hour or so. Before I pissed that away. 

Red 7's and Double Diamonds again? Yup. That's $150. But from here on, I fucked up. I lost about $500 of that $700 ticket farting around. 

I pumped the last $200 of it in to this new Zoltar, a theme I love BTW. Max bet for nickles was kinda steep. At $12.00 a push. And my $200 went *Poof*. 

But I got lots of money! $200 more, *poof*. I fell for the old perceived progression on these crystal balls. They were spinning around all fast. Shooting out sparks and shit. Which I know is all for show. And that it is just a visual representation of time between bonuses. Yet here I am! $200 more and... Bonus!

Almost $370, which is still a loss. But a lot better than a $600 loss if it hadn't happen! 

And my losing death spiral spun out of control from there. I was just taking big swings, with big bets, and they weren't landing well. It happens. Even a "fair" casino like this, cant help me from having zero self control. From up over a grand to down over a grand. That is a -$2,000 swing.

But I was able to right the ship, on the same slot I got a handy on my last trip here. FuXuan88 for the win!

I triggered the progressive pick. Which, as far as I know, is a true pick bonus. IE what you pick matters. There are 5 total Progressive Jumps. Which if you find one, jumps you from the base progressive. Which was $75 here. To the next one, which was $119. I picked like a Boss, and found the 3 extra picks picks. And was just one pick away from hopping to the grand for $11K. But instead, I "only" managed $1,674.57. Back up almost a grand!

By now, I have been gambling for a good 3 hours. The wife got worried when she couldn't find me. South Bend Indiana is a cellphone black hole. Even more so, when you are on a reservation in the middle of nowhere. She wandered down to make sure I was still alive. For all she knows, one of these old geezers here. Which there are many. Rolled me in the bathroom and took all my cash. 

She finds me patiently waiting for my handpay. At least she knows what slots I like, if she had to hunt me down.

What do you do when you win a boatload of money? Win some more! $180 bonus on Monopoly. And now I have my new gambling buddy in tow. As the wife wants to play some. 

Truth be told, the wife was a bit of a cooler. I was still winning, just not very much. And started to give a bit of it back. $112 bonus on Medusa, but at a $6.00 max bet was kinda shit. 

$223 here was OK. But I dropped a few hundred bucks before getting to it.

$141 on Quick Hits. $200 on Gold Standard. $182 on Mustang Money. All mere whimpers from the big bangers I was getting before she came down to play with me. But still, even though I 100% blame her for my change in luck. I'd rather spend the evening gambling with her, then tearing up the slots. 

Well, figuratively anyway. If it was a matter of win $5K and be alone, or lose $1K and be with your wife. I'll take the $5K win.

Day one ends at almost Midnight EST. And once I check the bankroll, I was up like $600. And gambled through over $10,000. 

Day 2

As I have mentioned ad nauseam, my internal clock doesn't give a fuck where I am, or what I am doing. If its 6AM in Chicago, I wake up. So is the case today. On the plus side, I pretty much have the entire casino to myself. So there is that. 

$102 bonus on mechanical Huff N Puff sucked. $463 bonus game on whatever the fuck this Dragon Ainsworth is, did not. I kept retriggering the free spins, and ended up with like 70 of them. Then I was able to poach a Must Hit By progressive on a different Ainsworth for $300.

The above paints a picture of winning. But that was not the case. I was getting in some play, but loosing more than I'd like to admit. During no time above, did I cash out a ticket. Meaning I played until I lost, then put in some more. 

I was super disappointed in this Dragon Climber slot. A really hard bonus to get, and it should have paid more than $115 on a $5 bet. Ditto this $120 hit. Sure, it was only a line pay. But betting $8.80 with an 8X multiplier, is like a $70 bet. And with 3 winning lines for only $120, it was shit. 

Pretty much the only place to eat at 10AM on a Saturday morning, is the Edgewater Cafe. The same overpriced joint, with incredibly slow service, we ate breakfast at here a year ago. 

I learned from last night, to keep my phone on WiFi in case they needed me. And we ran a backup plan of Facebook Messenger, if texting turned to shit. I tell them I will meet them at Edgewater in 30MINs. And planned on running a hundo through this slot that was booked all of last night. And good thing I did!

$5.00 bet on nickles, and I got the Major progressive, which was almost $600. Then I landed the Minor for $250. Then the Mini for $50 and a couple other $50 balls. I knew I was inching toward handy #2. And sure as shit, $1,254.78. Just over the hump. All my money back, and now I am up almost a grand once more. "Honey, I'll text you once I get paid. You can head to the cafe after that".

Remember when I said the Edgewater was slow and overpriced? Well this time it was even slower and still overpriced! It took nearly an hour to get our breakfast to us. And it wasn't very good. Free, sure. But I will still bitch about it. 

The girls will be at the pool after we eat. And Daddy will be rolling the bones in the casino once more. 

Back to the show! Lobster Mania for the win! I had a 3X line pay, a double symbol, some added wilds and a bunch of 5 of a kinds for $535!

I lost a few hundred of that ticket, before rebounding on Quick Hits with a 6 symbol scatter for $256. And finally got the free games, for $116. But the star of the show was Reels of Wheels. I got a bunch of Red 7s for $480! But that was after I had that $700 TITO down to $400 after leaving Quick Hits. And $400 down to $40 on it. But just like that, I nearly won it all back. 

I have a Love Hate relationship with the below game, in all its incarnations. Either I win a ton of money, or I get absolutely fucked. Last night with the wife, I dropped like $400 in one of these. Today, about the same. With just a single $100 line hit to show for it. 

Hold N Stack here had so much promise! Yet only a $102 bonus win. The wheels were starting to come off the gambling cart. 

It took me $200 to win $100 here. And by the time the ladies were back from the pool, and dressed for an evening out. I was down about a grand on the trip. 

Well, down a grand for a good 10 minutes. Until I Pink Panthered the shit out of this bonus for $415. That got me half my money back. I cash that out, as they hit the lobby. 

Tonight, we are going to the Morris Theater for their Wicked Sing-A-Long. I saw Wicked at home in passing. Not my thing at all. But the wife and kids have it on loop in the SUV. And are constantly singing these catchy tunes at home. I knew they would enjoy it. 

And after I kept them prisoner in the hotel all weekend, so I can do Dad stuff without having to be a Dad. Well, it is the least I can do. 

We ate at some greasy spoon call the Crooked Ewe. They got good reviews, and were Celiac Safe for my youngest. But it was mostly blah.

Downtown South Bend is not like Downtown Chicago at all. But a lot whiter I guess. 

And as it turns out, I love Wicked! The sights the songs. I only knew Ariana Grande from Nickelodeon. I knew she grew up and got famous. But wow, did she nail this. Perfect blend of cringe and candor. 

Back to home base. They get out of the car to head up to the room. And I hang a right to head back in the casino. I can tell my wife was a bit disappointed with my choice. But my money isn't going to lose itself you know. Even if that makes me a bit unpopular. 

Popular! I'm no longer so popular! I'll hang with the wrong cohorts, and play the slots! That fucking song was in my head all night now. I don't know the actual lyrics, just the melody. But that didn't stop me from humming it. Even if all these farmer honkys keep staring at me.

I started losing a bit, and the wife texted me "Do you mind if I come down and play with you?" By all means! 

We started off slow with the wins. $102 here $106 there. Not much to crow about on $5.00 bets. But I kitty Cat'ed the shit out of these free games for $343 on Xing Yun Mao. Which I believe is Chinese for "Free Money"

But back to treading water. I was winning, just not much. $135 on what should have been a much better bonus here. 

$100 on Top Dollar. $125 on Jewel of the Dragon. And a decent $197 on a different Kitty game. Somehow we end up on a lot of Kitty games when she gambles with me. 

And back to the scourge of my gambling budget! The same set of games I lost hundreds in the night before with her. I'll teach this bitch a lesson this time!

$200 lost, have another hundo. You ate that? Well fuck you, here is $300 more! Finally I got the bonus after bouncing my bets between $5 & $10. Only $125 in ball values, but that doesn't matter. As I filled em all up and now get to spin the Dragon wheel! Will I get the Grand for $17K? Maybe just the Major for $1200. Even the Minor at $688 will right this sinking ship. Hell, even a 5X would be $600.

And... 2 X? The fucking worse I can do? After all that, a $250 bonus? In my face! I go to bed down about $900 on the trip. But I played through $12,000 today. So there is that. 

Day 3, last day

6AM up and at em!

7AM Saturday had some gamblers walking around. 7AM Sunday, not so much...

These BINGO slots were always booked the last 2 nights. Today, I finally got to play them, And man, was I missing out! It was only a single line, and max bet was 20 quarters. But when you hit that line, POW! It pays off! The Wild symbols pay anywhere. And it has this "Sparky" feature, where it Red Spins for random wins. Tons of fun.

IGT Fortune Link on the other hand, was a bit of a snoozer. I got the bonus on my $8.00 max bet. But only for $112

Here is another BINGO game I finally got to play, after figuring shit out on Wild Bill. Games like these are only available on reservations. And apparently, are wildly popular. La.. la, la.. la! Now I see why they are so pop-you-lar! God Dammit with that fucking song! For those of you that haven't seen Wicked. First off, shame on you! Second off, none of these jokes will land. 

Jackpot Polly Sparky feature for $240. So much potential in these games. 

Today I had $125 in free play. As well as over $130 in point play by now. $2.00 coin in on the slots = 1 point. 1 point - 1 penny. 13,000 pints was $26,000 gambled through. I flipped what I had built up so far on Video Poker. The usu, Deuces Wild. And was dealt 4 to the Royal! 1 in 48 chance of landing that fucking Queen of Hearts for $4,000. Instantly flipping this now loosing trip to a winner!

And I drew a Deuce. It was the saddest $100 I've won in a long time...

By now, I have gambled through almost $7,000 this morning. But it cost me another $800 or so. Down $1,700 for the trip isn't bad for 3 days of gambling like an adult. And running almost $30,000 through their machines. South Bend gets to keep their official Grid assessment of "Fair".

The wife texts that she is up. And we have $40 in dining credit to use. For fuck sake we wont be going back to Edgewater. And the only other place that is is open. Is their market shop. $40 worth of cookies and beef jerky it is!

I was just slow playing $40 through the below. As this machine overlooks the walkway from the Hotel and Casino, that the wife will be walking through for me to take to the store. 

I'd say I fucked up by only betting $2.25 like a little bitch. As max bet was $7.50. But I didn't dick myself nearly that bad. The bonus is a repeat feature. Like "All Aboard". Every game has some sort of Hold N Spin feature these days I guess. One of my wins, was for the Mini worth $50.00. The Mini would be worth the same $50 had I bet max as well. And I collected that $50 9 times! So $450 of this $643 would have been a push. Sure, that leave like $600 on the table I didn't win by not Max Betting. But we aren't talking about that right now!

The wife did get to see the bonus as it played out. And I walked her over to the Polly Pirate game, to show her what I found. And I won $150 on that as well. I cashed out $800 and gambling was now over. I ended up losing just under a grand, which is no big deal. We had a good $200 in free food. The suite is worth $450 a night on the weekend. And I got some weird hamburger press things yesterday as a gift. Bend over and take it they did!

$40 doesn't go very far in here. I bought a jumbo peanut butter cookie. A few gluten free rice crispy treats. The wife got an Americano. And we snagged a few bagels. We ate most of it in the room as we packed up. And it wasn't until we got home, that I realized they never packed up my fucking cookie! 

Those wiley bastards! Leave it to the Indians to make deals, and not keep their promises. I'll be back to claim what is mine soon. They made a very powerful enemy! 

90 minute drive back home, and we grab the only acceptable lunch for Father's Day. White Castle. Which will be a reminder in the days ahead of our adventure this weekend. As my shits and breath will surely be reeking of sliders.