 Why doesn't the narrator use his powers to win at slot machines?
Mine was no satisfaction, never earned me a penny—and now it had me fighting for my life in ... I had finished reading the Chronicle , folded and put it beside me, turned and looked out the window, expecting to see the San Joaquin Valley but finding only a sea of clouds instead. So I returned my attention to the inside of the plane, to the overstuffed gray-haired woman asleep beside me, to the backs of heads in seats before me, across the aisle to other heads, and down to the blonde. A crossword-puzzle worker, a togetherness-type-magazine reader. It started when I was a kid, this business of being able to explore the insides of things like purses and sealed boxes and locked drawers and—well, human beings. This being earlier than I usually get up, it seems all I did during the night was feel my way past the escapement and balance wheel to see where the notch for the alarm was. I even went to Las Vegas to try my hand, so to speak, with the ratchets and pawls and cams and springs on the slot machines. But there's nothing delicate about a slot machine, and the spring tensions are too strong. So I'm stuck with a talent I've found little real use for. Soon the stewardesses would bring coffee and doughnuts around, so I contented myself with looking at the clouds and trying to think about Amos Magaffey, who was purchasing agent for a Los Angeles amusement chain, and how I was going to convince him our printing prices were maybe a little higher but the quality and service were better. I went through slips and slippers, lingerie and laundry, a jig saw puzzle and a ukulele. One went to a battery and the other to hard round cylinders taped together. If this was anything like my own alarm clock, this one had something like ten minutes to go. No, none of them would know it was there. We'd be leaving the valley for the mountain range north of Los Angeles soon, if we hadn't left it already. I pushed and pulled and didn't dare release my hold until it came to a dead stop. When they unloaded the luggage, the balance wheel would start again. I'd be a man not to be trusted, a prying man, a man literally with gimlet eyes. Mountain crags jutted through the clouds. Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I forced my senses to the wheel, tugging and pulling and shoving and pushing until it finally stopped.
 The mechanical workings of the slot machines are too difficult for him to control.
 He did use his powers to win at slot machines. He got himself banned from casinos.  He thought about using his powers to win at slot machines but then decided it was too risky. He was afraid of getting caught.  The mechanical workings of the slot machines are too difficult for him to control.  He did use his powers to win at slot machines for a while. Then he became addicted to gambling and had to join Gamblers Annonymous.