Gambling fever is not an affliction I have.

I went to Vegas for the first time last November. The only time we went in a casino was to use the bathroom. We spent our time hiking.

I enjoy it, but I'm bad at it. After my 20 bucks is gone I just people watch and enjoy the enviroment. Wish more places were smoke free though.

My dad really likes it. He goes to the boat a couple times a year and Vegas once a year. He took me to the boat once. It really didn't do much for me. When I first moved out and got married I was broke for a long time, always trying to make ends meet. That has turned me into a tightwad, even now that we are financially in a better place then We were. So it makes throwing away money not enjoyable. I don't begrudge anyone else for doing it, as long as they can afford. Golf, fishing trips, and hobby cars are expensive and wasteful too, but we all gotta pass the time some how.

Tried the casino a couple times and I don't get it.

If you want the full casino experience, find the pit boss and give him half of your money, let him kick you in the junk and then go home.

That's how it feels to me.

Never been, no desire. My friend keeps saying we need to go to Vegas, but it never gets planned. The prospect of hitting up the super car rental is my only interest.

I'm allergic to neon.

Datsun310Guy wrote: The guy I used to work for had a cabin near Pikes Peak - Denver guy. We went in early for a meeting to fly fish and ended up looking for something cool to do on Saturday night. He suggested we run over to Cripple Creek and go gambling. Since I don't gamble or drink I ended up looking over the shoulder of my coworkers. The town was dying and they converted all the store fronts to casinos and it was packed on Saturday night - except most of the people were in the 65-90 year old range and I saw a LOT of oxygen bottles next to people. This was my happening Saturday night? I never told my wife. http://www.cripple-creekcolorado.com/

At least the town is living up to its name.

The first time I was in Vegas I dropped $10 into a slot machine and that lasted less than 5-minutes. Ok, BTDT but don't think I'll be doing that again.

Now I have 2 casinos walking distance from home, and 3 others about a 10-minute drive away. We did dinner at one of the buffets, and will probably hit a show or two on occasion, but I could spend piles of money(if I had it) on way more interesting things to me than gambling.

I made a lot of money at the casinos. I use to sell the backup power supplies that are in just about every slot machine out there. haha.

I use to go on occasion when I lived near the boats in Iowa. We would go out with $40 and gamble for a bit and have dinner and drinks. On a good night, it was steak and I came home drunk and on a bad night, I was pretty sober and had a sandwich. I always left the AYM card at home and just had $40.

Since working in casinos so much and going to Vegas so much for trade shows and PMing the install of our units all over, I just can't stand even being in them much any more.

M wife and I went to Vegas last month for the first time. Stayed at the Wynn which is a pretty decent hotel. Had some great food, saw some great shows and blew a lot of money. On our last day we had a US $10.00 bill left (Canadian eh) so we thought we should gamble for the first time ever. The bill was so worn out the slot machine wouldn't accept it, so we came home with it. Guess I don't have a gambling problem either. But one of my kids has a heart defect and every year I drop $250.00 on their annual charity home lottery.

I'd be more of a gambler if I was any good at it.

joey48442 wrote: I went to Vegas for the first time last November. The only time we went in a casino was to use the bathroom. We spent our time hiking.

This. Vegas is fun for its nightlife and food option, but we don't drop a single cent into the machines.

Oh, by the way... As a local, we don't care if you gamble. Gaming revenue has been in overall decline since the 2008 recession, while overall tourist revenue is up. WAY up. We're doing fine these days.

Routinely go to Reno for work and stay at a Casino. Below per diem, adequate rooms and all the conveniences (food) handy. I learned long before I started these trips that I am not a gambler and I work to hard for the money I have to give it away. If there were 1 winner from 5 tickets sold and I bought 4 of them I wouldn't be holding the winning ticket.

First trip to Reno a several years ago worked out better than expected though. We were having a hard time booking rooms for the time we had to be there because of some event called Hot August Nights. Found out what it was when we got there. Had a great time and didn't even miss the casino. Last year just missed the Reno-Stead air races by a day.

heee... I win $70,000+ a year from the casinos.. at a cost of over 2000 hours of my life a year

I didn't even like throwing away my hard earned quarters in pinball machines.

I was born to be a cheapazz.

mad_machine wrote: heee... I win $70,000+ a year from the casinos.. at a cost of over 2000 hours of my life a year

That took me a second.

I never got the whole slots thing either, but my grandfather spent about 10 years of his retirement going on bus trips to the various casinos around the northeast and atlantic city. For him it was a social thing with a group of friends, games and catered food on the big ol' tour bus, play slots for 4 or 5 hours, hit the buffet and then come home. He'd bring a set amount to gamble that he could afford to lose. The thing is, he tended to go with $400-$600 and come home with $400-$2000. Never a life changing jackpot but somehow on average he came out ahead, over years, playing just slots. WTF?

I have family that lives a few hours North of Vegas, so since they moved up there a few years ago SWMBO and I have been out to see them twice- both times flying in/out of Vegas, and of course we've stayed a bit before/after. I think total we spent about $40, all of it on 'The Big Wheel' which SWMBO and her friends had a great time playing when she went there with them for her 30th birthday a few years back. It's amusing, but we don't expect to win anything (and the last time she noted that it was a whole lot less fun sober).

We however love Vegas on the whole- there's endless things to see and do whether it's actually paying to do things like go to shows or just watching people and things going on around the city. It's not particularly cheap, but it is exciting and fun.

We are friends with a couple that probably go to The Boat at least once a month. Neither of us get the attraction of it at all...

johndej wrote: Found a great way to drink for cheap in Vegas. Trick was to take the time to actually program the one cent games back down to the penny they advertised (normally these are really a quarter or so on the default). Insert one dollar. Pull the handle your 100+ times. Should take about 30 min if you do it right. Celebrate every damn win with high fives like ya hit the jackpot. Receive your first comped drink from the waitress, tip $2. By the time you're through you'll have 2 more in ya and ready to go do something else.

This. I'll just hang at the penny and nickel slots until I get a server's attention. Once you have that the drinks keep flowing. My friends and I almost got kicked out of the Rio because of our obnoxious celebration of hitting the jackpot ($20!) was disturbing the 80 year old chain smokers nearby.

Another not-fan here. Whenever I find myself stuck in a casino, my routine is to play video blackjack until I have won $20 for the next meal... then I get to leave and either go eat the meal or find a good spot to read a book. I have found that you are ALWAYS up $20 at some point, usually not long into it, which is another bonus.

I just do not get the appeal. And you know what? If you offered most people a job that involved sitting on a cheap vinyl-covered stool and repeatedly punching a little button on a jangling, blinking, noise-assault of a machine for $5/hour--which is far better than most gamblers can ever hope to make--they'd tell you to go screw. Why do people volunteer to do this??

Margie

I find the casino floor atmosphere a bit creepy, with the way they set the lighting to perpetual twilight and light it up more with the slot machines than the lighting. The whole atmosphere seems designed, intentionally, to disorient people and cause you to lose track of time. It does not, however, make me lose track of the way slot machines are like global thermonuclear warfare - the only winning move is not to play. I'm too mathematical - until I can calculate a strategy that is likely to win, I see no reason to go any further.

I have been to Vegas twice. Once for a buddies 40th birthday and once on a stopover (Phoenix-LV-Toronto).

I won money both times. I put it in my pocket and went home ($500 and $75 respectively).

We did a lot more than gamble though - Hoover Dam, shows, etc.

I'm no gambler, but my previous employer had quite a few Atlantic City casinos and Philly region horse racing/casinos as clients. I hated going to those places, especially the ones on the AC boardwalk, they really liked to make it hard to work for them and the ones owned by a certain well known NYC real estate mogul also liked to not pay their bills.

The only gambling I used to do was a poker game with friends or the Saratoga racetrack. Either way it was primarily entertainment versus actually gambling. The poker game was for pennies and bragging rights. The race track was a way to spend $25 and be entertained all day and get to yell and cheer like an idiot at every race.

I don't even like horses, but actually being there and seeing and hearing them run- as a car guy, you can understand how horse racing was the sport of kings. You can also begin to understand why calvary and knights were such a game changer in battle.

So, the only part of gambling that amuses me is the manufacturer. Williams, bally midway etc, after they bailed from arcades, they went into casino gaming. Being an arcade nerd i want to see whats new. That and....

I can count better than most. I could legitimately count a blackjack shoe at one point. I never used that, except for one time. Friend of mine calls me up. Girlfriend tells him to go jump. He loans me a 20 spot so we can go to mystic lake and kick it. An hour later i handed him his 20 spot. I bought a new playstation 1! The trick was in the game i was playing. If you got to the bonus round, it was a 10 card hi lo. I discovered that if i could count the 10 fast enough, i could predict the money card with 100% accuracy. It was a bally machine. Bally has a pattern. I dont gamble on chance.