Top 10 Las Vegas Tips

Visit mid-week. Hotel rooms often cost three to four times as much on the weekends as during the week!  Plus, with weekend crowds you’ll wait in line for everything.  Mid-week visitors save tons of money and have a much better time.

Get a player’s card. Go to the Player’s Club desk at any casino you visit and sign up for a free player’s card, even if you don’t plan to gamble there.  Then the casino will mail you offers for discounted or even free rooms on your next visit.  You can also sign up for the MGM/Mirage card online, which will work at 10 Vegas Strip casinos.

Set loss limits.  Make a gambling budget for each day and if you lose it, then stop playing.

Don’t play slot machines. They suck your money away hand over fist.  Compare $500 lost over 10 hours at 75¢/spin compared to just $40 lost at blackjack or craps @ $5 a hand.  See my crash course on table games to have a much better chance of winning.

Tip the dealers $5+/hr., and the cocktail waitresses $1 every drink or two.

Ask for comps. When you play either slots or table games the casino will reward you with buffets, show tickets, or room discounts.  Ask at the player’s club booth (slot players) or at the tables (table players) for how to claim your goodies. (more on comps)

Use the buses. The Westcliff Express bus goes straight from the airport to the South Strip (MGM Grand, NY NY, Luxor, Tropicana) for $2.  The #108 goes from the airport to the Stratosphere and then to downtown, for $2.  Pay $8 for a 24-hour pass when you get on any bus, and then ride any bus in the city for free for the next 24 hours, including the Deuce and Strip/Downtown Express (SDX) buses.  See our special page that tells you all about the pkv games buses.

Don’t try to get taxis on the strip. Taxis can’t stop directly on the strip; that’s why they’re passing you by. Go to the taxi area of the hotel to get one. Up to 4 people ride for the same price as 1; if there’s just 2 of you, don’t be afraid to yell out, “Anyone want to split a cab to [some casino]?” It doesn’t just save money, it’s eco-friendly.

Walk.  You’ll discover stuff.  When the Strip is crowded, sometimes it’s even faster than taxis or buses.  Plus, it helps work off the calories from the buffets.

Get Half-Price Show Tickets. You can get deeply-discounted tickets for most Vegas shows at one of the several Tix4Tonite booths on the Strip and downtown. See all my tips for getting free and cheap tix.

Bank your winnings. Set aside half your win when you win big, and never gamble it, so you have a guaranteed win.

 

Latest updates

Created a simulator to show how likely it is to hit different numbers in roulette after various numbers of spins. (10/18)

Created a simulator to show that RRbRbbbRbR in roulette is no more likely than RRRRRRRRRR. (10/18)

August 2018:

Made a new page of suggested casino reforms

Added a page on why people gamble, and gambling addiction

Added the Good Bovada Slots page

Separated the modern slots from old slots on the Mac casinos page

Added how long it takes to hit a slot jackpot

Added info about slot machine near-misses

Added a page about mobile-friendly games at Bovada

Made an app that generates random baccarat shoes, as well as a commission calculator

Added the snazzy new mobile menus

Made most of the rest of the site mobile-friendly

Rewrote the Coin Pushers article

Updated lots of content throughout the site

Completely overhauled my slot machines content, including these brand-new pages: how to play, returns & paybacks, the randomness principle, myths, B.S., jackpots, skill-based slots.  3/18

Vegas casinos are surprisingly unprofitable.