The fact that 100x odds doesn't get used that often by patrons is an even better reason to keep it. It's something that looks good, reminds people of the Horseshoe of old, and yet costs them little, even from a variance standpoint.

accountingquestion is correct. The bean counters have sucked the life out of Vegas. Everything has to be a profit center now. There's no such thing as a loss leader anymore. Budget food is mostly history. Cheap shows are mostly history. Free parking is mostly history.

It didn't have to be this way. We could have had the beautiful, modern casinos and all of their offerings, while still maintaining a lot of the old charm and budget deals. For example, would it kill every hotel to have one low-end coffee shop where the food is fairly cheap? That's not going to kill their fine dining offerings, and it will leave people feeling less exploited when they don't have to pay $20 for bacon and eggs in the morning.

And then there's the games... triple-zero roulette, 6:5 blackjack... shameful.

I'm not one of those guys who always romanticizes the old days. Vegas of the '60s-'80s was a dangerous place, and being an AP back then could get you buried in the desert, rather than just escorted out. And I don't miss tipping some leech at the door of a show in order to get a good seat, nor do I miss the ever-present cigarette smoke in the entire joint.

I guess what really annoys me about modern Vegas is the attempt to gain business based upon past nostalgia, while at the same time extracting everything good about what was nostalgic about the place. Don't call your casino "Horseshoe" if you're going to strip it of all the things people liked about Binion's Horseshoe -- the cheap food, the 100x odds craps, the high spread table limits, etc. Dressing it up with nostalgic imagery means nothing if you're going to run the place exactly like you did Bally's.

Reminds me of how Whirlpool bought the Maytag brand, then turned it into shit, yet they still sell Maytag washer/dryers as if they're as reliable as before. Gordon Jump is turning over in his grave.