Big roller brings big day for kids

ATLANTIC CITY - June 25, 2008

Today you could call Moses Tawil, a Good Samaritan.

Thanks to the money the 39-year old from Brooklyn made playing slots, seven local kids who've dealt with cancer went home with iPods, Playstations, watches, and even a few flat-screen TVs.

"It just means so much that someone would do something like this for a bunch of teenagers," Nicholas Santoro of Egg Harbor Township said.

Moses donated 15,000 comp points, which are rewards earned by gambling that can be spent like cash at the casino store. In turn, the casino allowed the kids to purchase everything in the store at a discount. The result was a super-sized shopping spree!

"It feels great to see their faces, to see them enjoying this, and getting stuff that maybe normally they wouldn't get, so I am very happy about it," Tawil said.

Like all the shoppers today, Eric and Jesse Maldonado had treatment at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Eric had leukemia and Jesse donated bone marrow to help his brother get better. They truly appreciated today's gift.

"I thought it was extremely generous of him and I am grateful for it," Eric Maldonado of Galloway, New Jersey said.

"I also think it was pretty generous of him to just donate like that," Jesse Maldonado said.

At the end of the shopping spree, the kids cashed out with 7 plasma TVs, 5 Playstations, 5 iPods and more, all with a retail value somewhere in the range of $50,000.