Francine Maric — or Lady Luck HQ, as most of her fans and followers know her — insists that her job isn’t anywhere near as glamorous as most people think. It’s a load of fun, sure, but being a slots influencer takes hard work and dedication, like any successful career.
Maric’s job as the face and operations of Lady Luck HQ is simple when you boil it down to a few sentences.
I record myself playing various slot machines at casinos around the United States.
And I post them for the world to see.
Her output also includes food vlogs, hotel reviews, and other amenity experience overviews, but slots are the crux of her channel.
Bonus spoke with Lady Luck HQ to learn what it takes to be a slots influencer, and Maric delivered.
Humble Beginnings
Maric describes her journey to becoming the face of Lady Luck HQ as “dumb luck.” She and her now-husband moved to Salt Lake City for work. Their jobs took them to Vegas for conventions and meetings.
After our respective events or meetings, we would meet up and gamble.
We would play different slot machines, and we had so much fun doing it.
Whenever they hit a jackpot or big win, Maric and her husband would post a picture on Instagram. Eventually, they made a separate page for those posts to keep them distinct from their personal accounts. That page was the first iteration of Lady Luck HQ.
“People on Instagram started to notice,” Maric continues. “They were clamoring for full gameplay videos and asking if I could record and post full game sessions.”
Her following encouraged her to post on YouTube. She obliged, despite having very little knowledge of the platform at the time.
I didn’t know how to put a video together.
I was super green.
She posted two videos, and the second one — an $18,000 win on Rio Dreams — went viral.
The moment served as a spark to fuel Maric’s fire. After the video’s success, she thought, “Wow, this really has legs. I have to figure this out.”
And figure it out, she did.
Maric films slot content as Lady Luck HQ full-time. Her main YouTube channel had more than 597,000 subscribers, as of press time.
Behind the wins and the high-octane videos is a boatload of work.
Maric walked Bonus through a day in the life of a slots influencer.
A Day in the Life
A normal day, insofar as any day in the shoes of Lady Luck HQ can be normal, can go one of two ways.
“One is recording content in the casino,” Maric says. “I live in Georgia, so there aren’t any casinos in my state. I have to travel a lot. Once or twice per month, we’ll schedule a long weekend to visit a property or multiple properties.”
Those long weekends typically start Thursday or Friday, and Maric flies home on Sunday.
On days when she isn’t traveling or on-site at a casino, Maric dedicates her first waking hours to self-care.
My day always starts with a two-mile jog and a protein shake.
From there, it’s all business. “I sit in front of my computer and work on videos.”
It’s not >all on her plate. Recently, Maric hired a full-time editor and a social media person. The extra help lets her focus on the filming and cataloging of her content, and the employees are also helping her launch a second channel: Lady Luck HQ Respins.
If you think that doesn’t sound so hard, think again.
Every casino trip that I do, I record horizontal and vertical footage. When I get back, I catalog every single video and rename the files so each video has a number. Every vertical and horizontal video for a single slot will have a matching number to help with editing.
The majority of my time is spent making the thumbnails, organizing the content, plotting the calendar, and tweaking it to get everything just right.
Maric estimates that 30% of her time is spent filming content, and the remaining 70% is spent on thumbnails, cataloging, and strategizing.
Working With Casinos
Before Lady Luck HQ was a full-time job, casinos had wildly different rules from one property to the next. Some wouldn’t allow anybody to film. Others would only allow it with a proper permit. Others were more lax in their outlook.
But now that she has a big following, casinos know Lady Luck HQ’s arrival can be a big marketing play.
They know I’m coming. They know when, who I’ll be with, and many times, I’ll send them my ID ahead of time so they can have a player’s card ready for me.
Many casinos are eager to have Lady Luck HQ visit, and they’ll offer special perks like some free play or rewards points.
Before heading to a casino, Maric brushes up on the games.
We always have an idea of what games we’ll play. Do they have new games? Are my favorites there?
Maric says Dragon Link is among her favorites, and she always asks if a casino has it when planning her visit.
The first thing I do on a casino filming day is get hair and makeup ready.
Normally, Maric flies casually. Sweatshirts and jeans are her everyday go-tos, but she says “I doll myself up” for casino visits.
While on property, she gets recognized, and she embraces it. We asked if there’s a difference between everyday Francine and Lady Luck at a casino.
“Not really,” she says. What her viewers see is what they get — a fun, bubbly slots fan who enjoys the hobby.
A typical casino trip garners enough content for about two and a half weeks’ worth of posts at a rate of one video per day.
Telling the Story
Maric likes to make sure her videos don’t get too samey.
I want to post fun, exciting videos and then follow up with ones where I lose and bring the energy back up with a bonus-heavy video. I’m trying to have ups and downs in my post schedule so it’s fun and realistic.
Responsible gambling is also important to Lady Luck HQ. She shares her win-loss statements from casinos.
“I don’t want followers to get the wrong idea and think this is an easy career. Gambling is a hobby, just like if you’re a casual golfer, you won’t make money golfing.”
Rapid Fire
To conclude this story, we asked Maric a few lighting-round questions.
Best day ever on the Lady Luck HQ job?
Our first trip to the Venetian. We got on a roll and ended up winning a ton.
You can watch the video documenting the legendary trip here:
Favorite slot bonus type?
“Any slot that has two different bonus types is an easy choice for me.”
Ideal denomination?
“High limit. My average is probably $100 a spin.”
Favorite slot games of all time?
“Piggy Bankin’ and Dragon Link.”
As for future plans, Maric wants to continue expanding her brand. She launched a secondary channel — Lady Luck Respins — and plans to build out her content catalog with sweepstakes casino content, real-money online gambling, and more casino trips.
She loves gambling because it’s a blast and because it draws people from every walk of life.
You’ll see an older lady sitting at a machine next to a macho-looking guy, and they’re both having the time of their life. That’s the magic of this hobby.
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