User profile: chicagojoe

Las Vegas is reaping the reward of converting the city to cater to the Brittany Spears crowd. All the people who made Vegas what it is are now priced out with the casino's 5 star restaurants, tight machines, repulsive entertainment, and room rates that are beyond what working Americans can afford. I used to go to Vegas at least 5 times per year and now I don't go at all. All the casinos that I liked are now gone! The ones that remain have been remodeled into disasters. Most of the reel type slots are being replaced with some video arcade looking monstocities that appeal to young wannabees who don't have any money to gamble anyway.

Great post. Can't argue with a word of it.

I think it will work. There are a lot of people who will want to use their "knowledge" and bet on whether Brady's next pass will go 10 yards. And assuming they can use their credit cards and not "see" the money they are losing right away, I think it will be a smash success. It's more automated losing of money. You aren't laying cash down in the book, but just seeing it disappear on a credit card. Genius.

Great article and comments. I would like to agree with concern about Vegas overpricing itself. I've come to LV for the past many years with friends from all over the country. It used to be you could stay at what I call a very nice (not Bellagio nice) hotel for low 100s a night. In May, the cost of rooms was outrageous. My room at Flamingo (not exactly Bellagio) was well over 200 a night. I think on Friday and Saturday it had to be over 300. That's pretty tough to stomach when you remember 10 years ago staying at the same place for 80 bucks a night, even on weekends.

Also, table minimums like somebody said Thursday-Saturday are a joke at the relatively nice Strip hotels. We were shocked Monte Carlo still offered nice n cheap 5 dollar minimum craps on a Saturday night; most every place on the Strip you were lucky to see a 10 dollar craps table. 25 was more the norm.

I mean give the gambler a chance to lower his/her bet when the luck is low. 25 buck craps; forget it.
I remarked to a friend: "I don't know how recent college grads can afford to come here for 3 nights as we did as when we were recent college grads — the time of our lives when we fell in love with this town and decided to return every summer."

My friend said, "They can't afford to come out here and gamble, and nobody in the casino business cares. They can fill the rooms with people who will pay 25 buck craps." If that's the case, fine. If you guys in Vegas only want high rollers, good for you. There was a time you wanted the average Joes whose relatively miniscule losses (compared to high rollers) supposedly added up. You hooked a lot of young adults into loving your town and coming year after year and losing a good sum every year while having a great time.

My question is: Does Vegas only want the high rollers? If so, good luck to ya. I know you have discouraged the little guy from coming with those high hotel costs and table minimums.

I know, I know; you can stay at Imperial Palace for 50 bucks a night, you can stay downtown and you can eat 1.50 hot dogs at Slots a Fun. I'm just saying it used to be a very cheap place to visit compared to other cities; now it is not necessarily so.