How to survive Vegas with a $600 gaming budget

[LoneStarHorse]

Since our esteemed leader stated this the other day "the average person goes to Vegas with a total gaming budget of less than $600."


I've come up with a sure fire way to get through a Fri-Mon with a $600 gaming budget.

Check into the Bellagio with a groupon, then proceed to the casino floor. Find a penny machine put in a $20 bill. Wait for the cocktail lady to stroll by push the minimum bet button. I think it's .30. Once she leaves wait for her to come back press the minimum bet button once again. Tip her $1 this means for $1.60 you got a cocktail. You still have $599.40 left to your budget.

Over a period of let's say an hour you can have 4 cocktails while losing only .60 per round
Since we are lacking threads with math. .60 X 4 drinks = $2.40
Do this for two hours $2.40 + $2.40 = $4.80 So you get a nice buzz for only $4.80 out of your budget. $8 in tips $1 per round X 8 = $8

Let's break this down 8 drinks over two hours $8 in tips $4.80 in play. For $12.80 you can have a blast. Now I haven't mentioned while pushing the minimum bet button 8 times you actually could win some money.....

WOW I never knew how much fun you can have for $600

Anyone else have some advice for our readers out there with this budget ???

[a2a3dseddie]

With regards to saving money on food, I tend to eat breakfast at the buffets in the off Strip casinos like the Gold Coast, Palms or Orleans. I don't say this to "plug" the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards Book or the American Casino Guide, but they have great coupons for saving money on food and shows as well as gambling coupons.

[LoneStarHorse]

Great advice, now we are heading in the right direction with this thread

With regards to saving money on food, I tend to eat breakfast at the buffets in the off Strip casinos like the Gold Coast, Palms or Orleans. I don't say this to "plug" the Las Vegas Advisor member Rewards Book or the American Casino Guide, but they have great coupons for saving money on food and shows as well as gambling coupons.

[Alan Mendelson]

Find a penny machine put in a $20 bill. Wait for the cocktail lady to stroll by push the minimum bet button. I think it's .30. Once she leaves wait for her to come back press the minimum bet button once again. Tip her $1 this means for $1.60 you got a cocktail. You still have $599.40 left to your budget.

Your math is wrong. After making a 30-cent bet plus a second bet for 30-cents plus a $1 tip, you've spent $1.60.

$600 - $1.60 = $598.40 which is $1 less than your estimate.

Now, is this thread an attempt to make fun of low-level gamblers?

The latest study from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority puts the median gaming budget at $530 per trip.

[jbjb]

With regards to saving money on food, I tend to eat breakfast at the buffets in the off Strip casinos like the Gold Coast, Palms or Orleans. I don't say this to "plug" the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards Book or the American Casino Guide, but they have great coupons for saving money on food and shows as well as gambling coupons.

Agreed. Many 2 for 1's.

[LoneStarHorse]

Alan

Once again you've jumped into something with a negative attitude... This thread was made with the intention of helping the average person going to Vegas....
About my math read through my example slowly you'll see it's 100% accurate

We don't seem to agree on anything which I do understand we come from two totally different sides of the tracks....

Your math is wrong. After making a 30-cent bet plus a second bet for 30-cents plus a $1 tip, you've spent $1.60.

$600 - $1.60 = $598.40 which is $1 less than your estimate.

Now, is this thread an attempt to make fun of low-level gamblers?

The latest study from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority puts the median gaming budget at $530 per trip.

[redietz]

Alan knew I'd jump into this one.

I second a2's recommendation. Using the ACG coupons, many of the Boyd properties have an "earn 250 points, get breakfast or lunch buffet" or "earn 500 points, get dinner buffet" deals. Earning 250 points requires putting $250 through the machines, at a likely short term loss of 3% or thereabouts. Also, if you pay with your points at most Boyd properties, you get a 40% discount on food in outlets owned by the casino.

If you do not rent a vehicle, using the monorail or taking advantage of the various shuttle runs around town will help. Taxis are expensive. Look up the latest routes for the Gold Coast or Rio shuttles.

Tix for Tonight has many shops around the city for buying last minute discounted tickets.

P.S. If you're visiting during your birthday month, sign up online for Benihana's customer card. You get a free meal within a certain number of days of your birthday, and the Benihana's at the WestGate is really a great looking place. It's not your everyday Benihana's.

Skip the "specialty" buffets, which are generally overpriced. Skip almost all of the CET buffets, except maybe for Planet Hollywood breakfast or lunch. Take advantage of coffee shop specials, which are generally off hours in places like Palace Station or downtown.

And if you are downtown, sample the $1 shrimp cocktail at the Fremont.

[redietz]

Palace Station currently has a midnight-6 AM special. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast for $1.99. Short stack of pancakes for $1. I was a bad man last time. I had both.

[Alan Mendelson]

The initial post was about "How to survive Vegas with a $600 gaming budget" and that excludes spending on buffets, meals, shows, two-for-one coupons, etc. Hence my comment: was this post supposed to make fun of low-level gamblers?

If it was meant to be a thread about budgeting tips for a Vegas vacation it should have said that.

[jbjb]

Palace Station currently has a midnight-6 AM special. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast for $1.99. Short stack of pancakes for $1. I was a bad man last time. I had both.

I'd get both at once!

[Alan Mendelson]

Checking the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority statistics again: the latest average trip expenditure on food and drink was $286.78; average daily room rate was $86.55; average trip total spent on shows was $138.33.

[james40]

Checking the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority statistics again: the latest average trip expenditure on food and drink was $286.78; average daily room rate was $86.55; average trip total spent on shows was $138.33.

We generally spend more on food and shows than gambling. Our gambling is secondary, I like to keep it secondary. I've always thought that the term "professional gambler" is an oxymoron. I don't think you can really be "proud" of spending a lot of money gambling.

[jbjb]

We prefer Advantage Players. But Rob doesn't believe in us.

[RoeIncarnate]

This is about the gaming budget I would use for a weekend trip.

During the day I'll play in a $40 or $50 poker tourney. Usually get 2-3 hours of fun there and I've placed in the money a few times. We'll also play penny slots for drinks. I play 1-5 cents at a time since I don't like slots. My wife will play 3-20 cents at a time. Usually we have enough luck to get 2 or three drinks on $20 between us.

Then I play craps at Excalibur for $5 buying in with $100 or $200. This usually lasts quite a while. But I just play pass line with one or two times odds. The odd 6 or 8 if things go well. And I usually get enough rating comps to buy a sandwich by the end of the trip.

And I'll usually play $20-50 of black jack once.

I avoid any table over $10 and look for $5's when possible.

I've only once lost just a bit over $600 on a trip. The rest were half that loss or positive.

Our budget is starting to rise a bit now but I like playing conservatively.

[Alan Mendelson]

Then I play craps at Excalibur for $5 buying in with $100 or $200. This usually lasts quite a while. But I just play pass line with one or two times odds. The odd 6 or 8 if things go well. And I usually get enough rating comps to buy a sandwich by the end of the trip.

I happen to love your craps strategy. Craps is really basically a one bet game: you are betting that you will repeat the point number before you seven-out. All the other bets on the table are "side bets."

I think betting just the passline plus a bonus bet such as the FireBet or the Small, Tall, All bets makes for a fun and exciting game with the potential to win a lot of money with a small, upfront expense.

That passline bet, even without odds, and the "bonus bet" not only keeps you in the game but allows you to cheer for the shooter the same way the big bettors are.

[Rob.Singer]

A professional gambler makes their living only on income from gambling. AP's are a dime a dozen--just ask around at any local casino. That's why someone like Dancer is not a professional gambler. He's a professional in the gambling industry.

Doing LV "on the cheap" is such a waste of time. Most people save up, take the trip finally, then treat themselves to a great time and get pampered in various ways. Looking for two-fers and coupon vulturing while chasing every frugal deal and cheap buffet in town is what losers do. If you're going to go to LV then you always stay in a room that's at least as nice as you have at home. Otherwise you're taking just another mini-vacation where the word "struggle" is always the word of the day.

[redietz]

We should thank Rob for providing some insight into why he no longer goes to Las Vegas.

[FABismonte]

This is my suggestion if someone spent Fri-Monday in Vegas with a $600 budget. Plaza in downtown has an promotion for new slot club members. If you lose up to $500 (in $100 increments), you will get half in free play of your losses after 24 hours, and the other half 24 hours after that.

http://www.plazahotelcasino.com/casino/promotions/

You can use the $500 as a free roll to try some high variance slot games and try to hit it big. Failing that, get your money back in free play, probably in video poker. One big advantage is you can play a long time with a safety net. Even better if you can show up on your birthday as there is a special free play promo for that too.

FAB

[redietz]

That's brilliant, Fab. Thanks for posting. I wish I was still a Plaza "virgin," but I'm not. I know some other folks heading to LV soon, however, who will take advantage.

[Rob.Singer]

We should thank Rob for providing some insight into why he no longer goes to Las Vegas.

And we should all thank redietz for not being able to get me out of his head on nearly every post he makes. And also for providing proof that he is nothing but a 25c vp player who takes sweaty-Palm trips to "LV" when he can afford to.