Have you ever stayed at a Vegas casino and NOT made a bet?

On Friday afternoon I'm driving up to Las Vegas to spend one night -- maybe two -- to have a business meeting and to claim a rather "healthy" casino promotion which are gift cards to the one department store we regularly shop at -- Macy's.

The promotion is worth... well, it's worth a lot of money.

My wife isn't going and her concern...worry... fear is that I'm going to lose more than the promotion is worth.

And I said to her "don't worry, it ain't gonna happen."

I know it's not going to happen, because I have a plan: I'm going to play a couple of the low cost poker tournaments, plus go to my business meetings, and then do my best to get back as soon as possible, and perhaps even Saturday night.

My wife says: "impossible!"

Well, I think it is. And I thought back to the time when the two of us got in the car and drove up to LV about a year ago to attend a friend's birthday party. And that's all we did. We drove up -- went to the banquet room where the party was held -- enjoyed the party and then back to the valet and drove right back to LA. It was about 10 hours in the car, three hours in Vegas for a party, and not a bet was made.

Have you ever visited a Vegas casino -- even stayed overnight -- and didn't make a bet? Not one?

Ever make a trip to a casino, grabbed a gift promotion, and bolted without making a bet?

How did you do it???

I've done that dozens of time, and I'm able to do it due to the same reason I'm able to just get up and leave casinos to go home as soon as my goal is attained: I understood & learned what true discipline really was, and I very strictly trained myself to always do what I said I was going to do prior to stepping foot inside any casino. I'm now spending the cold months here in Pahrump with 3 casinos within 15 minutes walking distance, and I may play once every 2 weeks for maybe an hour. And I just spent a 3 week vacation up in Lake Tahoe and didn't play a hand of vp. But if I didn't learn and take true discipline seriously, none of this would have worked out.

I hope you really can do what you described, but I'm leaning more towards what your wife mentioned: concern & worry. If she was going that would make a fairly big difference also.

Rob, I have another reason not to get into "trouble" on this trip: In February and March I have four big promotions that I want to "grab," and the rule is you can't take part in a promotion if you have any outstanding markers. Normally I wait almost till the end of the 30-day grace period to pay my markers instead of writing a check on the spot. I dont want to blow my budget on any of these trips and put myself in a position of not being able to come back for any of these promotions. Yes, I still have a budget even with the royal I hit. Those promotions total up to almost as much as one royal -- three for gift cards, one for Shell gas cards. Walking out with any one of those would meet YOUR win goal Rob, so you know what I'm talking about. So here's my chance to walk out with FOUR of your win goals plus comped rooms, and enough points to eat well. Oh, I have gas cards from a previous trip too.

Let us know how it all works out. As you know, promotions are important casino tools designed for only one thing: to rope in their best players with the mesmerizing lure of lucrative freebies. If you can actually go to each of these four without gambling a penny, you have taken the extraordinary self-discipline step of you controlling what you do in a casino rather than allowing them to control you. But if you find yourself succumbing to the same old temptations to gamble instead of just taking the bait and leaving, then that rut will never change. I know you enjoy the overall experience of what you're doing and how special these higher level invites make you feel, but there comes a time when every player realizes why these promos are really there. Plus, just play for the money. You don't need all this "stuff".

And remember what I said about markers, check cashing, etc.: they're just more casino tools to get you to gamble, and/or perhaps more than you had planned, and they are totally unnecessary. Imagine driving to LV with a minimal amount of cash for the trip, scooping up your freebies, then going home. I'll bet that sounds awful to you. In fact, right now you're probably thinking up feel-good reasons why you NEED to have credits cards in-pocket or the availability to grab cash from the cashiers. Let's see....food, breakdowns, other unforeseen emergencies, right?

Then listen up! You don't need to eat on a comp run, and if you can't hack it then pack a cooler. Gasoline, or emergencies of some sort? Get an AMEX card, and shut off or don't sign up for the cash advance option.

It's up to the individual only to put policies in place that combats the tools the casinos always use in their favor, and EVERY player has the opportunity to take maximum advantage of these opportunities--which are the ONLY advantages any player will ever be able to get over the casinos.

Rob, I never have more than $200 in my wallet driving to Vegas... so there is no money burning a hole in my pocket. I find always that by not carrying a lot of cash I'm not inclined to bet as freely. Each time I decide to gamble I have to either go through the process of taking a marker or using an ATM (I have zero fees when I use an ATM at certain casinos). Whenever there is that "extra step" of taking a marker or going to the ATM there is that extra thought about playing some more and if I should or not.

I always suggest that visitors to a casino do this whenever they need cash from an ATM: Go to the ATM that has the longest line. Get at the end of the line. Give yourself time to think. Or, stand back from the ATMs and watch those who are taking money and look at their faces-- do they look happy?

I've stayed many times and not made a wager. Also gobbled small promotions and not made wagers. I've only been invited for a couple of what I'd call major promotions, and I usually played some minimal amount -- maybe 1/20th the value of the promotion. The good thing about the major promotions -- I ate more than that 1/20th in comped food.

Now if any casino marketers are reading this, I just want you all to know that I intend to start using drugs heavily this week as part of my New Year's resolutions, and I will be depositing large amounts of coinage in slot machines from here forward.

That's funny redietz :)

Alan, while I have NEVER used a casino ATM, there have been many times I stood by them watching a good percentage of ATM customers look downright distraught as their colorful array of cards get declined one after another after another. I wrote an article on that also, and it is without doubt why the casinos put them inside their properties. The issue of fees is completely irrelevant. Anyone who uses those things cannot say they have never used them in a negative way. As an explicit casino tool, it very easily can turn a bad trip into a near disaster.