THE NIGHT THE REELS ALIGNED

The neon hum of Macau’s skyline pulsed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Grand Dragon Casino. Jason Chen, a 28-year-old software engineer from Singapore, had just fed his fifth HK$100 bill into the Dragon’s Fortune slot777 machine. His palms were slick against the glass. Three hours earlier, he’d walked in with a modest budget of HK$2,000—enough for a few spins, a cocktail, and a taxi home. Now, he was down to his last HK$500, and the machine